Uzumaki Rider
by Tobi wants a cookie
Summary: For many, death is the end, but not for Naruto Uzumaki. After being killed by Sasuke, a strange old man offers him a deal: live in a new world and work for him or perish. Now Naruto rides through the world, fulfilling his new duty as the Devil's Bounty Hunter. Little does Naruto know how much his deal will affect the events to come, or that he wasn't the only one offered a deal...
1. Birth of a Rider Pt 1

Hello there ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to a new Co-authored fanfic brought to you by the collaboration of writers Tobi Wants a Cookie and acw28. Tobi Wants a Cookie is known for fanfics such as A Better Route and The Red Fox, while acw28 is known for works like A New Realm and Lost Legacy. It is, as you likely already know, a crossover between the universes of Naruto and Marvel (Particularly the supernatural side of things, especially as we get further into things), and the rest you'll have to read for yourself to find out. Hopefully the description gave you an idea of what to expect. Updates will come out as frequently as they can, but this is being written by two busy college students who've got real life to think about as well. The schedual for the realse of the coming chapters will be interesting to say the least. Thank you so much for reading and be sure to review.

Chapter Soundtrack - LA Devotee: Panic! at the Disco

* * *

It was the card that woke him up. That damn thing was worse than any alarm clock he'd ever owned. There was no assault loud noises or earth shaking vibrations, just a business card that sent waves of awareness flowing through his body. The card was black, and void of any marks or other defining features. When it was time for him to wake though, a large M would burn into the card, a timid flame outlining the letter. As ordinary as it may have seemed, this was a card that held a great sort of power.

His eyes shot open when its song began, forcing him to sit up and run his fingers through his spiky, blond hair. He reached over on the bedside table and picked it up, holding it in his hands for a few moments before he blew out the flame, the symbol leaving along with it. The young man, who was barely old enough to drink, whore nothing as he climbed out of bed, which was fine, since the curtains were drawn. Setting the card back on the table, the young man caught a glimpse of his wallet, which was still open from when he'd thrown it on the table last night. Inside was a card with all the information you could ever need about him.

Naruto Uzumaki, age 21, blue eyes, and 180 pounds, all of which was pure muscle, though the driver license didn't say that. His wallet was still open because he'd been for more intrested in other things when he walked in, particularly the beautiful woman who'd been sleeping in bed next to him. Her name was Jennifer Walters, though most of the world knew her as She-hulk. She stood well over six and half feet tall and had green skin with hair to match. A turn off for some men, but nothing Naruto couldn't get past. He couldn't help but smile as she woke up, throwing the covers off herself and stepping out of bed, "Oh boy, that was some night we had, huh? I didn't hurt you too much, did I? When things get hot and heavy, I can lose control sometimes."

"You almost crushed my pelvis a couple of times, but it was worth it. I'm a fast healer anyways," Naruto said, enjoying that fact that she wasn't wearing any clothes either. She-Hulk had the body of goddess, with curves that would make a man weak in the knees, "My god, you are beautiful in the morning."

The complement didn't go unappreciated. Jennifer walked over to him grabbed him by the hip, pulling his body up against her's. Naruto went in for a kiss, which she quickly accepted. This was the state they'd been in for a matter of minutes before they pulled apart for air. She-Hulk was panting for air as she said, "That was my little thank you for going 'downtown' without being asked. Most guys act like you're asking them to give a kindy when you bring up oral."

"After the crazy shit you did for me last night, I'd be an asshole not to," Naruto replied. This next part of the conversation had him nervous, but he decided just to go for it, "So, we've been doing this for awhile now, and it's been great and all, but I was thinking..."

"Let me stop you right there," She interrupted him by putting a finger to his mouth. She-Hulk knew where right where he was headed, "I told you: no dates. First off, I'm green. So, unless you want people staring at us, than we can't exactly go to a five star restaurant for dinner. Second, you know I'm just not looking for a relationship right now. My law firm is just getting off the ground and it's a lot of work keeping everything straight. I'm thankful for the stress relief, but I just can't commit to a relationship right now... and I won't stop you from looking for one either."

Naruto nodded, forcing a smile, "You're right. It's probably not what's best for either of us right now."

"Aw, don't get all mopey on me," Jennifer pouted, "Would it help if I said I was about to take a shower and need help washing up."

That was an offer no man could refuse, "Sure, but we'll have to make it a quicky. Boss won't like me showing up for work late. The Wrecking Crew is back in town, and he needs to see their boss."

She-Hulk didn't see it as much of a problem. She knew who Naruto was, and didn't figure the Wrecking Crew would be able to do much to him, "Those punks? We've got more than enough time for some fun before they end up doing any real damage. Come on, let's go get dirty in the place we're supposed get clean."

* * *

"Hey man, is it time yet? I'm gettin' anxious over here," Piledriver, a blonde mountain of a man, grumbled, his hands shaking in the pockets of his sweater.

Thunderball, who was just a tad smaller than Piledriver, scanned the bank and its various patrons before running his fingers through his jet black buzz cut, "Yeah, this is probably as quiet as this place is gonna get. We wait much longer and it'll be lunch hour. We'll have too many asshole deal with if it gets there."

"I got my gauntlets and helmet ready, boss," Bulldozer, a bald man roughly Thunderball's size, whispered to the group's leader, smacking a large duffle bag as he did, "Let's do this thing already!"

The previously mentioned 'boss' smiled at his gang's enthusiasm. He was Wrecker, the aptly named leader of the Wrecking Crew, and while he might have been the smallest member of the crew, he more than made up for it in raw skill and charisma, "Alright, boys, get the gear out. We've got a withdrawal to make!"

A groan came from across the room, "Uuuggghhh! Really? You're going with that tired line? God, I swear, if one more fucking bank robber makes that corny ass joke, I'm gonna withdraw their spine from their body!"

"Oh really? Looks like we got a hero here, huh fellas?" The Wrecker asked his crew. He snatched the dufflebag from Bulldozer, unzipping it to pull out an almost comically large crowbar. He then unzipped his sweatshirt to show off a thin layer of body armor, the kind that might slow down a bullet or dull the effect of a punch, "So, Mr. Hero, you gonna come and give us trouble, or are you gonna play it smart shut that big fat mouth?"

"First off, I ain't a hero in any sense of the word," The voice corrected him, the owner slowly making his way to the center of the bank so he was visible. It was of course Naruto Uzumaki, who wore a pair of jeans, a white t-shirt, biker gloves, and a leather jacket. He glared as the rest of the crew got their gear from that same dufflebag, "And second off, do me a favor and tell me which one of you limp dicks is the Wrecker. I got something special for him."

Thunderball had retrieved his ball and chain, swinging the massive sphere of lead above his as fast as he could, while Bulldozer slid on his steel gauntlets and helmet. Only Piledriver didn't have any gear, and unfortunately, that meant he could focus on talking, "Hey, boss, how come this guy's so interested in you?"

"I don't know, dumbass, but thanks for making sure he knows exactly who I am," Wrecker snapped, clutching more tightly to his crowbar, "Fine, so this asshole knows who I am. Now what's he gonna do about it?"

Naruto wouldn't make them wait long for answer. A chain fell from his arm, one that looked like it should've been too heavy for the young blonde to lug around on his arm. As the Wrecking Crew would soon seen, Naruto had no issue pulling off unbelievable feats with it. His arm shot forward too fast for the human eye to see, sending the chain hurling towards the Wrecker. It made contact with his crowbar and wrapped around it several time. That was impressive enough on it's own, but it's what came next that really left everyone in awe. Starting at the end of the chain, the end Naruto was holding to be exact, flame began to engulf the weapon and shoot all the way down to the section wrapped around the Wrecker's crowbar. Fighting a growing sense of regret, the Wrecker looked up at Naruto only to have his fears confirmed, "You've gotta be fucking with me…"

The same flame that engulfed the chain engulfed Naruto as well, transforming him from his Uzumaki self into the one and only Ghost Rider. His face no longer contained any flesh, leaving only a burning skull in it's place. The rest of his body burned in the same way, only that couldn't be seen under his clothing, which were untouched by the flame. With the Ghost Rider out and ready to play, it was time for the Wrecking Crew to see what he could do, "Time to play, boys! Let's see if you can entertain me for awhile!"

"We need to get the fuck outta here," The Wrecker called, but it was only in vain. He soon felt the sting of his own crowbar smacking him across the face, as the Ghost Rider jerked his chain in every which direction to make sure the action was repeated over and over again, "Gah! Ow! Shit! Fuck! Dammit! That hurts!"

"It's supposed to," Naruto growled. He couldn't beat the Wrecker much more, as that could cause the poor schmuck brain damage and Naruto's boss still needed him, so the Ghost Rider gave his chain one last mighty jerk to to send his foe flying into a wall. The Wrecker smacked his back on the unforgiving marble before falling face first onto the floor. With him out cold, or at least in enough pain that he wouldn't be getting up anytime soon, the Ghost Rider turned his attention to the others, "Not much fun there. Alright, who's next?"

Bulldozer went charging for him, "I'm gonna crush that stupid skull into dust!"

A metal clad fist came charging at Naruto, who didn't so much as flinch. He caught the attack before it came anywhere near his skull. Bulldozer reacted almost instantly, using his other hand to try for counter attack. The Ghost Rider caught that as well, "Ah, insanity. Doing the same thing and expecting different results. Here, let me try to help cure you."

"H-hey! Let go a' me," Bulldozer commanded, unable to break free of Naruto's grip. His metal gauntlets began to heat up, to the point that they were burning his skin, "Ahhh! Oh God, what're ya doing? Ahhhhh!"

The metal became so hot that it started melting on Bulldozer's skin, rending his hands useless. Naruto chuckled "Making you sane. You can't try and smack me anymore. In fact, I don't know if you're ever going to smack anyone ever again!"

"Get offa him," Piledriver bellowed as he rushed towards the Ghost Rider. A bad move if ever there was one. The Ghost Rider tossed Bulldozer to the side, the villain still in untold amounts of pain, and let Piledriver get as close to him a possible before lifting up his leg and putting a boot right in the man's stomach, knocking the air out of him, "Ack!"

Once immobilized, Naruto grabbed Piledriver by his skull, looking directly into his foe's eyes, "Tell me something, my friend; are you ready for your judgement. If you're soul is clean and pure, which I highly doubt, this should be quick and almost painless… but, in the more likely event that you've been a rat bastard all your life, this is gonna sting a little… make that a lot, actually! HAHAHA!"

Piledriver felt a burning sensation crawling under his skin. It started out slow, but quickly grew into a level of pain he'd never felt before. Fire began to encase his soul, fueled by the weight of every sin he'd ever committed. That fire spread throughout his entire body, burning hotter and more excruciatingly than any flame from Earth ever could've. This was hellfire, and it was consuming every part of him in a blaze no one in the bank would ever be able to forget, "AAAAAAAHHHH! PLEASE, SOMEONE HELP ME!"

"There's no one to help you where you're going," The Ghost Rider revealed before the fool in front of him crumbled into nothing put ash. Piledriver was dead. His friend weren't exactly weeping over his loss, as the Wrecker remained groaning on the ground while Bulldozer and Thunderball fled from the bank, the latter the only member left unscaved. What would become of the two of them, Naruto didn't care to know. One hadn't even fought him, while the other would probably end up threatening some poor doctor to try and fix his hands. Only one member of the Wrecking Crew mattered now, and Naruto had him in hand. He grabbed that fool, along with his crowbar, and made his way out to the street, where he expect his boss would be waiting.

A crowd was no doubt watching him and gawking at the carnage Naruto had left behind, but it didn't matter. His job was finished, "Time for you to meet someone real special, Wrecker, the kinda guy who knows how to make a first impression. Trust me…

* * *

Naruto walked to the coffee stand on the bustling Los Angels street corner with a skip in his step and a grin on his face. He pulled out his wallet and handed the cashier his card, amazed at the fact that there was no line. The vender, on the other hand, was a little concerned that the man who'd just walked up to him had seconds ago tied an unconscious criminal to a streetlamp. He'd wisely decided not to question it as Naruto placed his order, "Well would you look at that. Looks like I got lucky twice this morning. I need a large, black coffee, and I'm buying for the guy behind me too. You want something boss?"

"I'll have the same, thanks," Came a dry voice behind him that then mumbled so now one but Naruto could hear, "Awful nice of you to pay, considering that card is all my money."

Taking the two coffee's, Naruto handed one to the man behind him and they began to walk down the street and over to the Wrecker, who had only just begun to stir, "You're a mystical being who can do almost anything. I'd be shocked if that card even went to an actual bank account. Knowing you, the card probably just screws with the computer system or something. Don't try and guilt trip me, asshole."

Naruto's companion didn't say a word, instead smirking and drinking the scolding hot coffee without so much as a flinch. The man was roughly five feet ten inches tall, decently built, with jet-black hair that was slicked back. Small touches of grey were tucked behind his ears. His eyes were a dark red and he wore a custom made suit that was almost entirely black, with the exception of a red tie, and black overcoat to top it all of. There was an intimidating air around him, not that it seemed to be affecting Naruto, "Either way, you know I don't like to be kept waiting. Though I must admit, it'd be hard to turn down an evening with the kind of woman you did."

"Like you wouldn't believe," Naruto remarked, watching the Wrecker as he started to open his eyes, "So, what exactly do you want with this guy anyways?"

"I need to have a little conversation him, that's all you need to know," The man replied, reaching down and placing a hand on the Wrecker's head, "There's a good chance I won't be in touch for the next couple of days. Consider it a vacation. Just be ready for things to get hairy once I get back, alright?"

Naruto took a sip of his coffee, not caring about the heat as it went down, and chose not to respond. It wouldn't have mattered what he said; his boss didn't allow disobedience of any kind. So, the Ghost Rider merely looked on as his boss vanished in a burst of flame, taking the Wrecker right along with him. The flame had never been necessary for the teleportation, but Naruto had to admit, there was some damn good style to it. With the boss gone, the young rider snapped his fingers and waited, tapping his foot while the vendor from before watched in utter confusion. A roaring engine sounded off in the streets, signaling the arrival of Naruto's ride: a gorgeous, orange motorcycle with black detailing and finely polished chrome around the rims. It had no rider atop of it as it pulled to Naruto, who wasted no time in hopping right on. Still, the vendor stared at him, making Naruto chuckle. He couldn't resist playing with the man at least a little, "What, you're a coffee vendor in LA? You telling me ya don't see shit like this everyday?"

Those were the last words he spoke before he hit the gas and drove off to God only knew where. It was always best for Naruto to end on some humour after he met up with Him. The rotten bastard he'd come here to see, a twisted beast who prayed on those at their most vulnerable, and monster who was damn near impossible to outsmart. That was who Naruto worked for… and that was who Naruto had met in purgatory all those years ago

* * *

 _He was groggy when he woke up. But then, who wouldn't be? It's not every day someone wakes up from their own death._

 _"Oh man, it feels like Sakura beat me over the head about a thousand times," Naruto, a then thirteen year old boy groaned as he sat up and rubbed the back of his aching skull, "Where the hell am I?"_

 _A reasonable question, seeing as the last thing he could remember was the cold, unforgiving waters found in the Valley of the End. Those waters were nowhere to be seen now, replaced by a forest with fog that looked thick enough to swallow you up whole. Leaves crunched under Naruto's body as he stood up to try and get his bearings, "Hello? Is anybody out there? My name's Naruto Uzumaki! I'm-"_

 _"Dead as a doornail," A calm voice interrupted him from behind. Naruto whipped around to see who it was and found a man sitting on a nearby stump, rolling himself a cigarette. Well, he was attempting to anyways, but most of the tobacco was falling to the forest floor, "Ah, son of a bitch! Kid, you know how to roll a cigarette? I can't seem to get it."_

 _Naruto blinked a couple of times. He didn't know what to make of this man, with slicked back hair and fine suit, but there was no one else around to assisted him, meaning Naruto would have to take what he can get. Walking over to the old man, he snatched the tobacco and paper from him, "Sure, I've seen people back in my village do it all the time. But you're gonna have to explain what's going on to me if I do it, ya creep!"_

 _The man shrugged, "Alright, Naruto, we'll do this your way. But my name's not 'creep.'" His final words came with a much greater intensity, "And you'd be smart to make sure you never call me anything remotely close to it ever again."_

 _"Well… fine, then what should I call you?"_

 _"I've been called a more than a few different things over the years, but your case, I think Mephisto should do the trick."_

 _"Mephisto, huh?" Naruto asked, the cigarette now rolled and ready, "So, Mephisto, ya gonna explain what's going on or what?"_

 _Mephisto took the cigarette, smiling at the boy. He lowered it down to his fingertips, getting as close as he could to open end, and flicked them together, creating a spark for just an instant. It was enough light the damn thing and make Naruto jump back, exactly what Mephisto had been going for, "There's not much to tell, really. You got in a bit of tussle with your friend, Sasuke, and things went a little too far, and now you're on the other side. Like I said before… you're as dead as a doornail. Well, maybe not as a doornail. Doornails don't really have any way of coming alive-"_

 _"Hold on, dead?" Naruto interrupted, "What do you mean I'm dead? How can I be dead when I'm right here?"_

 _"Well, considering that right here is purgatory, I'm gonna go ahead and say that being dead is the only way you could be 'right here.' Come on, kid, ya took a lightning bolt arm to the chest! What'd you expect?"_

 _Naruto began to back away, his mind reeling, "This is a dream… or a freaking nightmare! There's no way that this could be real!"_

 _With a puff of his cigarette, Mephisto replied, "Yep, this is how I thought you'd react. It's how everyone reacts really; don't feel special. Now, if you were a regular person, I'd spend the next hour hemming and hawing, trying to find some way to make them see the situation clearly, but with you, there's a much simpler answer. Tell me something, Naruto… how're you feeling?"_

 _"What the hell kinda question is that? I'm feeling… different," Naruto had realized what Mephisto was getting at mid-sentence, "The Kyuubi's power, I can't feel it anymore."_

 _Mephisto took another puff, "Precisely, and you know what mean, don't you? Her power is gone. Kurama has left your body, and taken her immense sum of energy with her. The only way that could be possibl, is if you were dead, severing your connection."_

 _"Wait, the Kyuubi's a girl? And her name is Kurama?" Naruto's mind was reeling, "How do you know all this?"_

 _"I know of all the demons as powerful as her, whether they're a part of my universe or not. Now, Kurama's cycle will continue. She will be reborn somewhere in your world years from now, and be sealed away inside some other poor sap. Her miserable life gets drag on, along with her suffering and longing for freedom. And you, my young friend, will move on to the afterlife, wherever it is your universe deems you deserve to go."_

 _Naruto was panicking by this point. Someone his age being face to face with their own mortality was bound to do so, "But I don't wanna die? I haven't even kissed a girl yet! Or had a drink! Or become Hokage! Or-"_

 _"Settle down, child. That's why I'm here," Mephisto said, a grin growing on his face, "I'm here because you don't have to die, because Kurama does not have to live on as a prisoner, and because you have a chance at a new life, free of all the bullshit you had to deal with in the previous one."_

 _"I… I don't?"_

 _Mephisto chuckled, "No, you don't. I have another way… a better way… a way that can benefit both of us. That is, of course, if you're interested."_

 _Now that sounded good. In fact, it sounded downright great, and that was the problem. Naruto may have been young, but, despite what his teachers may have thought, he wasn't stupid, "What's the catch? You keep talking about demons and the underworld. Something tells me you aren't one of the good guys."_

 _"Tch, the good guys? After all you've been through, you really buy into that crap?" Mephisto asked. Naruto's face didn't falter, which told the underworld dweller he had his work cut out for him, "Right and wrong, good and evil, shit, rules in general; they're all bullshit! They're concepts created by morons who know they can't outsmart people like me!"_

 _"Man, that sounds really cool when you put it like that. Too bad the all adults I hear who sound like that are assholes!"_

 _This kid was a real loudmouth. He wouldn't listen to a word of something if he thought you were trying to bullshit him. Mephisto liked that in a man, "Well I'll be damned. I've seen that speech work on people three-times your age. Looks like I'll need another way to convince you."_

 _Naruto was already beginning to turn around, "Forget it. I'd rather take my chances in with a shinigami than work for you!"_

 _"Aw, but what about Kurama? Are you just gonna leave her high and dry?" Mephisto asked. It got Naruto to stop and look back at him, "She's been bouncing from prison to prison for what, centuries now? And she never even committed a crime. The poor thing. Are you really gonna let her stay like that? Not to mention all the people you could help with the kind of power I'm offering you. You're giving up all that to go off into the great unknown?"_

 _There was a moment of silence, a long one. A sigh escaped Naruto's lips, "Help people how exactly?"_

 _Mephisto stood up. He began to circle Naruto, eying him up like a wolf with some poor rabbit, "Your job, should you take what I'm offering you, will be to bring me the souls of the nastiest, cruelest people you can imagine. You'd be saving so many lives by getting rid of people like them. Then of course there's Kurama again. A small trace of her power still lies within you. I can use it to bring her into my world too. There's no telling where she'll end up, granted. With you, I've got the body right in front of me, and it's a body I'll have a contract on. All I can do for Kurama is pull her power here and wait for her to take a physical form. We'll track her down though, I promise. She won't be a prisoner of your world anymore."_

 _"That actually doesn't sound that bad," Naruto thought out loud, "But how do I know you'll hold up your end of the bargain?"_

 _"That's what this little beauty is for," Mephisto said before pulling the cigarette out of his mouth. It looked as though it hadn't srunk in the least. That was strange enough on it's own, but it only get stranger from there. Mephisto flicked the cigarette, and the next thing Naruto knew, it began to unravel like a scroll. Holding the scroll out of the boy, Mephisto showed off the scribbles of cursive fire that lined the scroll, "This will be our contract. Go ahead and look it over. It states that, in no uncertain terms, the people you'll bringing in for me have to have souls black enough to deemed worthy of the underworld. In fact, you won't even have to kill some of them. You'll just bring them to me to answer question or pay a debt; that's all. And in exchange, you get the powers of the Ghost Rider. Can you imagine it? You, with all the powers of the underworld. Not to mention you can save Kurama and… oh, what else was there… oh, right **you won't have to die!"**_

 _Naruto was reading the contract as Mephisto spoke. Everything he'd spoken of was in there. The more Naruto thought about it, the more conflicted he became. He still didn't like the demented look in Mephisto's eyes too, "I… I don't know."_

 _Mephisto took Naruto's hand. The boy tried to protest, but he wasn't anywhere near fast enough. With a sharpened thumbnail, Mephisto drew blood from Naruto thumb and brought down to the contract, "Come on, what's there to think about? You can help people and save Kurama from an eternity of misery. You don't want to be selfish, do you?"_

 _"What? No, of course not," Naruto snapped. Mephisto had let go of his hand just as it was about to the touch bottom of the contract, where Naruto's signature was supposed to go. The boy's eyes scanned the contract as a feeling began to wash over him. He wasn't sure what it was exactly. Part of it felt like fear, fear of his own death, and part of it felt like guilt, guilt at being able to help people and turning a blind eye. His hand inched towards the signature until the blood began to touch it. It almost felt like something else controlled Naruto's hand while he made his signature. This was Naruto's choice though, and he knew that when he put the final touch on his signature, "Did I… did I do it?"_

 _A feeling of pride washed over Mephisto. He took out his tobacco and cigarette paper and rolled himself a smoke, something Naruto noted he had no trouble doing on his own this time, "You did great, Naruto. Now, let us begin."_

 _Before Naruto could say another word, an incredible light blinded him. It was the contract. The binding magical agreement turned into a ball of flame that latched itself onto Naruto. Pain seared his whole body, and everything faded to black._

* * *

The story had been running non-stop through Naruto's head as he drove through streets of LA. Well, he'd been trying to drive anyways, but the traffic had grinded his speed down to a crawl. If there was one thing he despised about living in this city, it was the traffic. As much of a pain as it was, his slow speed did give him time to notice something out of the corner of his eyes as he road along. There was a girl in front of him, roughly his age, wearing black pants and matching tank top. Her long, straight hair was the same color, while her eyes were an emerald green. She was quite fetching, but that's not what peaked Naruto's interest. Two guys had been following her block after block after block, and it started to look a little odd to the young rider. The whole reason his interest had been peaked to begin with was that the men were staring at girl, and not at her ass like some pervert would do. No, they were looking at her the way someone would look at a target. This girl was being tailed, and Naruto intended to find out why.

He pulled up to the nearest parking spot he could find and hopped off his bike, walking at just the right speed so that he could get behind the two men in question without arousing suspicion. Once he was close enough to get a good look at them, his fears were quickly confirmed. Both men were wearing plain old button up shirts, but Naruto could make out the body-armor underneath them. Guns holsters hung from their hips as well, another fact Naruto wasn't a fan of. The cherry on top though was something the man on the left thought he had hidden up his sleeve: a military grade taser. Naruto may not of known who these guys were, but he still knew enough not to trust them. He whisper to himself, "These bastards are gonna try and kidnap her or some shit like that. Tch, not gonna happen. They're about to have themselves one hell of a bad day."

The girl, for reasons the young rider didn't not yet understand, took a right down a dark alleyway. It must've been the perfect opportunity for her two stalkers because they followed right after her. Naruto in turn followed them, letting his chain fall out of his sleeve so that he'd be ready when the shit hit the fan. Everyone footsteps echoed through the long corridor they found themselves in. Trash littered every corner around them, and the shadows that now covered their bodies made them feel almost as though they'd enter their own little world.

In a move that stunned everyone, the girl came to sudden halt. Everyone behind her did the same, and the whole alley fell silent as girl turned around. She looked about 18, and pissed off at that. Her features were soft, but her voice was filled with venom, "You assholes really think I wasn't gonna notice you following me? If you're gonna try and catch me, you need to step up your game!"

"Alright, X-23, why don't you do us a favor and come along nice and easy, okay?" The man with the taser requested.

X-23 responded by extending two long, metallic blades out of her bunched up fists, "Go to hell!"

The girl lunged at the two men, apparently intent on sending them to the underworld herself. With all the speed he had within him, the man with the taser tried to pull out his weapon. It wasn't nearly enough though, as X-23 jammed her blades into his chest before he even came close to reaching his goal. X-23 then proceeded to ripped the claws from his body, spraying crimson all around her when she did. While the man with the taser fell to the ground, dead, his partner in crime tried to reach for his gun. He failed miserably, with his opponent stabbing her blades into his eye sockets in a blur he had no chance of reacting to. The second man fell to the ground, equally as passed on, once X-23 pulled her claws out. Both men laid in a pool of blood and carnage that the girl seemed utterly indifferent to. She turned her attention towards Naruto and asked through her teeth, "What, you want some too?"

"Um… no not really," Naruto muttered, trying to understand what the hell had just happened in the previous 90 seconds, "I'm a Ghost Rider, and I was uh… gonna see why those guys were stalking you. Guess I don't need to now."

"No, you don't," X-23 growled, shoving her way passed him. She stopped before she left the alleyway. Glancing back towards him, X-23 called, "So you're the new Ghost Rider, huh? I like your work. In case you were wondering, those assholes on the ground work for either work for HYDRA, Donald Pierce or maybe even both. Long story short, they're nobody to cry over… Anyways, see ya."

X-23 exited the alleyway and took a right, leaving Naruto by his lonesome. The young rider sighed, well aware this wasn't over, "Crazy girl with claws tears apart two shady guns for hire in a alleyway? Yep, I'm gonna have to look into that. Let's hope she hasn't run off to far yet."

* * *

Thankfully the young woman hadn't gone too far from the alley. Naruto was able to catch up with her in the of people crowd and fall instep. After a few moments of silence, the Rider asked, "So why would HYDRA be after you?"

"Probably because they created me in one of their labs to use as a weapon," X-23 said casually.

Most people would've gasped, but Naruto wasn't the least bit phased by this. Stranger things happened to him everyday, "So I'm guessing you had a moral break through and escaped?" When the woman nodded, Naruto asked, "How long ago?"

"About a month."

"Alright, seems like you've been handling yourself okay. So what are you going to do now?"

With a shrug, X-23 admitted, "I hadn't thought that far, I guess I'll just keep moving and killing whoever comes after me."

"There isn't someone who could help protect you? Or at the very least, keep you company?" Naruto asked.

The young woman had already been looking into that, "There might be, but they're on the other side of the country, and there isn't any feasible way for me to get there."

"You mean Wolverine and the X-men, right?," Naruto asked, startling X-23. He grinned at her, "The claws kind of give you away. If you need me to, I could give you a ride."

Skeptical, X-23 raised an eyebrow and asked, "And just why would you do that?"

"Because I try to help people whenever possible." Naruto explained, "Plus I have a few days off work and I need to get out of the city for a awhile before it drives me crazy."

X-23 laughed a bit at her companion's outburst before stating, "Ah, what the hell; I'm in. I'll meet you here tomorrow and we'll head out."

"You don't have a place to stay tonight, do you?" Naruto asked.

"I'll find a place. I've been managing fine up until now."

When the girl confirmed his suspicion, Naruto sighed before saying, "Okay, two things. First, you're staying at my place tonight, I've got something scheduled so I'll be out anyway. And two, I'm not going on a road trip calling you X-23, that's a serial number not a name."

After a few moments of silence, the young woman spoke up, "Call me Laura."

Hearing the name, Naruto smiled as he said, "Nice to meet you Laura."

In response, the teen smirked as she stated, "Likewise."

* * *

She-Hulk tapped her foot, a skeptical eye watching Naruto, "So this girl, Laura, does she have a place to stay until you leave tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I've got her stashed back at my apartment," Naruto said, a little yawn escaping his lips, "I ended telling her she can sleep in my bed. Gonna suck being stuck out on the couch."

"You're not sleeping with her then?" She-Hulk asked, to which Naruto shook his head, "And how long will you be gone for?"

There was no way for Naruto to know that for sure, "Hell, could be a week, could be two weeks, could be a fucking month, I don't know. Why do you ask?"

She-Hulk got a mischievous look on her face. She swayed her hips as she walked over to Naruto, pushing him up against the wall. The boy opened his mouth to talk, but She-Hulk silenced him with a rough french kiss. When they broke, she whispered into his ear, "You won't be sleeping on any couch tonight. If you're going to be gone for that long, then I'm gonna need one for the road. For the rest of the night, you're mine blondie."

"Whatever you say," Naruto replied, recalling how wonderful the other nights she'd gotten like this had been, "Did I get lucky and catch you in some sexy lingerie?"

In a perfect answer, She-Hulk started to unbutton and rip it off, along with her skirt. What she revealed was a lace purple and black bra the barely contained her massive bust, along with matching garter belt connect to the fishnets she'd worn. This look was enough to have Naruto grabbing her by the ass and pulling her into another kiss, She-Hulk undoing his pants as he did. Once his pants were off and boxers were down, She-Hulk broke and the kiss and sank down to her knees to find he was already rock hard, "It's a good thing you'll be driving most of tomorrow, because by the time I'm done with you, you'll hardly even be able to walk. Now, let's get this party started."

As Naruto began to enjoy his night, he couldn't help but question if his life would have been this good (relatively speaking, at least), had he not died and stayed in his own world.

* * *

It was the middle of a cloudy night in the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Hardly anyone was up, and those that were didn't notice as a figure hopped from rooftop to roof to carrying a basket with them. The figure didn't stop until they reached the village cemetery. Slowly, the figure walked past the rows of grave markers until they reached one that read "Naruto Uzumaki." Bending down, the figure traced the name with her delicate, skilled fingers before saying, "Hello, Naruto-kun. I brought you some ramen."

As she spoke, the clouds parted to allow the moonlight to reveal Hinata Hyuga. In the years since her crush's death she'd grown a few feet and had allowed her indigo hair to grow out. While she'd also lost her stutter, a few things hadn't changed. She still her pupil-less eyes and she still dressed in bulky jackets, although the newest one was a thinner purple and grey instead of the previous white. As she was about pull the food out of her basket, Hinata heard someone walking behind her. Turning around, she was greeted to the sight of her friend, Kiba Inuzuka.

"Hey Hinata-chan. I thought I might find you here." Kiba began, "I'm sorry to do this right now, but we need to talk about the whole marriage thing."

"We will, Kiba-chan. Just give me a couple of minutes with Naruto-kun."

Kiba nodded and took a step back. Not many other people referred to the shinobi with the 'chan' suffix. Hinata herself only ever did it in private, and had to fight hard to not let it slip out when they were in public. The reason for this was quite simple, and it was the same reason she and Kiba were to be married in the coming months. But that was a story for another time…


	2. Birth of a Rider Pt 2

Welcome back everyone to another chapter of Uzumaki Rider. First things first, the authors want to thank you guys for giving this story such a positive response. We didn't expect things to go as well as they have, and seeing so many people enjoying the work makes us want to work that much harder for you guys. Second, Happy Halloween everyone! While we couldn't dedicate an entire chapter to it, the holiday will play a role in coming chapter. Speaking of which, this one is going to focus more on different characters plotline's, which will soon merge with Naruto's. Some of you guys have made some predictions and even picked up on somethings in the story already. That's the kind of thing that's always great to see, and it should be fun seeing how everyone reacts to this chapter. We're glad we got it out to you before Halloween, though we can't promise the next update will be as quick or as long as this one. Thank you guys so much for reading and let's get started.

Chapter Soundtrack - Raise Hell: Dorothy

* * *

There was something oddly calming about a cemetery for Hinata. Most people seemed afraid of them, but the Hyuuga heiress had never been able to understand why. Sure, it was a home for the dead and all supposedly spooky stuff, but why would something like that be scary? A cemetery was a place of eternal rest, where people could sleep forever. People became ash and returned from wherever they'd come from. That was a beautiful thought in Hinata's mind.

She really did look peaceful there, sharing a bowl of ramen with her lost friend. It hurt Kiba to have break it up, but it's what had to be done, "Hinata-chan, are you almost ready? I'm sorry about rushing you, but like I said, there's something we need to talk about tonight."

"Why not talk about them here?"

If only it were that simple, "We don't know who could be watching, Hinata-chan. I shouldn't have to tell you that. It's safer back at the house. I hate doing this to you-"

Hinata knew her friend was right, no matter how badly she wanted to pretend otherwise, "It's fine, Kiba-chan. I'll be ready to go in just a moment…"

"Alright," Kiba said skeptically. There was something in Hinata's tone that warranted a little more concern, "Hey, are you okay? You don't seem like yourself."

"I'm fine…"

Her tone suggested otherwise, and Kiba knew it, "No, you're not. Something's wrong, and you're gonna tell me what when we get home."

"Kiba-chan-"

"Don't 'Kiba-chan' me," Kiba said with in soft tone, "You know I can tell when something's wrong, Hinata-chan, and when I find out what it is, I'm gonna do everything I can to fix it. Okay?"

Hinata could hear the concern in Kiba's voice. It really was sweet how much her 'husband' worried about her, "Okay, Kiba-chan. Let's go home…"

* * *

Mephisto carefully eyed the crowbar sitting on the table in front of him. It was the Wrecker's of course, and that poor soul now sat alone with a deadly demon in what looked like some kind of interrogations room. Unlike most interrogation rooms he'd been in, the entire place was made with bricks of bones separated by lines of burning brimstone. The heat had made the Wrecker sweat out more water than he ever thought was in his body, but that wasn't what had him concerned at the moment. That honor belonged to Mephisto's soul piercing eyes, which had been glancing between the Wrecker and his crowbar.

"This is a nice tool you got here. Real strong, isn't it? Where'd you get something thing like this, eh Wrecker?"

That was the exact question the Wrecker had been dreading, "It uh… was a gift."

"A gift, hm?" Mephisto asked. He moved his hand so that it was hovering directly above the crowbar. It began to shake before levitating a few inches off from the table. A small ring of fire appeared and began to rotate around the center of it. The single ring split into two, both heading across the crowbar in opposite directions. Like a layer of paint, the grey color of crowbar was stripped away as the rings made their journey. By the time they were finished, the crowbar's metallic facade was over, and it was revealed the the weapon was actually made from a strange kind of purple stone with a fluorescent glow to it. Wrecker gulped when saw the way Mephisto smiled at him, "This is one hell of a gift you've got here. Who gave it to you?"

The Wrecker began shaking in his seat, "I-I… I can't tell you."

That answer was enough to turn Mephisto's smile into a frown. His tone lacked any real emotion, and yet his quiet intensity was enough to make any being shiver, "You shouldn't lie to me, Wrecker. We both know you can tell me anything you want. You're just afraid of outing whoever your new boss is. Thing is, your boss ain't here right now. You know who is? One of the most sadistic men in any known dimension. With that in mind, here's what you're going to do… you're going to tell me who gave you that crowbar, you're going to tell me exactly why they gave it to you, and then you're going to thank me for not punishing you for that little fib you just told me. Do I need to repeat myself, Wrecker?"

"N-no sir, not at all," The Wrecker stammered. One look in this man's, no, this _thing's_ eyes gave the Wrecker a pretty good idea of what he was capable of. If that burning inferno he saw Piledriver succumb to was just the act of some indifferent lacky, the Wrecker didn't want to see what the head honcho could do if he was pissed off, "I got it from Baron Mordo! He said it's made out of some kinda stone from another dimension! It was called something weird, like uh… shit, what was it?"

"The Dark Dimension," Mephisto growled, shaking his head, "I knew I'd seen this material before. So, the old sorcerer's working for Dormammu again. Isn't that wonderful?"

The Wrecker was lost, "Sorcerer? Dormammu? I ain't following you, man."

Of course the fool couldn't follow what Mephisto was saying. The Wrecker knew nothing of Baron Mardo's past with the sorcerer's of the Ancient One, or of Dormammu, the ruler of the Dark Dimension. Neither of those things mattered though. What Mephisto needed was to understand what role the Wrecker played in any of this, "Don't worry about it. What did Mordo want in exchange for the crowbar?"

"Far as I could tell, he wanted to off some people with it," The Wrecker answered with a shrug, "He told me he'd give me a crowbar that could bust through anything, including bank vaults and Iron Man's suit, and in exchange, he needed me to beat somebody to death with it whenever I robbed a joint. The Ghost Rider stopped me before I could do it though, so I never got see what would happen if I went through with it."

Mephisto was partially responsible for that. He'd felt some kind of power was at play in his home world a while ago, multiple sources of it in fact. The closest one to his Rider had been in LA, which was why that was one he sent Naruto to fetch, but there was spikes of this strange energy all across the world, meaning the Wrecker probably wasn't alone in his endeavor. Whether or not the idiot knew it, he had partners. It made sense when Mephisto thought about it. Mordo was smart; he'd know better than to concentrate whatever he was doing in one location. Something like that would rouse too much suspicion. Spreading it out made the whole affair much less notable, especially if murder was involved. There was only one possibility that may explain to Mephisto why Mordo would work with fools like the Wrecker in order to people killed with such a particular kind of weapon. Dormammu needed souls, and Mephisto knew how Mordo was providing them, "They're using weapons forged in the Dark Dimension to siphon souls back into it. Dormammu's trying to make himself stronger, probably so him and his lackeys can make a run at the Sanctums again… and he wouldn't bother with something like that unless he was confident something had changed that turned the tables in his favor."

By this point, the Wrecker was utterly lost, "Hold on, who's Dormammu? And why's Mordo working for him? And what are Sanctums? And-"

"That's enough," Mephisto cut him off, "To put it simply, Dormammu is an interdimensional being who controls the realm known as the Dark Dimension. He's nearly unstoppable there, not that he couldn't already do some damage in our realm, not to mention the fact that time is meaningless inside of it. For millennia, he's been spreading his influence to absorb more and more dimensions into his domain. The Sanctums are the only thing stopping him from doing the same to ours, and frankly, the fact they're maintain by Strange and his sorcerer friends is the only reason I put up with the sorcerers to begin with. As for Mordo, well he betrayed the sorcerer's a long time ago. He could be after revenge or something more. Don't know, don't care if I'm being frank about it."

The Wrecker only blinked in response, "Ya lost me again."

"I don't particularly care. That little tidbit was more for me to straighten out my thought anyways. It's time for you to go home, Wrecker."

"So… you're not gonna kill me?"

A sinister smile danced across Mephisto lips when he answered, "No, I'm just going to wipe your memory of ever meeting me. You could be useful down the road, so killing you would be an awful waste. I'll just give the worst headache known to man instead."

The Wrecker tried to protest, "Wait, you're gonna wipe my-"

"Bye-bye, Wrecker," Mephisto cut him off, making the villain vanish in flash of flame and puff of smoke.

With that fool gone, Mephisto could refocus his thoughts on what he needed to do next. There was no way he could let Dormammu waltz into his home dimension and just tear the place apart like that! Not a snowball's chance in hell! Mephisto needed manpower to make sure that wouldn't happen, but Naruto alone might not be enough. More riders would be ideal, but where was Mephisto going to find them? Someone already trained in combat would be ideal, since that would mean all they would need to be taught were the Ghost Rider parts of their powers. It might be even better if Naruto himself had a vested interest in training this person, consider that would almost certainly making the training period go by faster. Of course, both those things needed to come in the package of someone willing to sign a contract with Mephisto. A person like that was going to be hard to find though…

"I don't think there's anyone in entire world who fits that bill," Mephisto said to himself. He almost felted defeated, until a wicked idea popped into his head, "Well, maybe no one in _this_ world anyways."

* * *

Hinata was beginning to feel helpless in her life. There wasn't anything particularly bad in it when sat down and thought about things. In fact, things had been going quite well all things considered. She had recently made jonin, her typically reserved father seemed confident in handing the clan over to her when she came of age, and it looked as if she might actually stand a chance at abolishing the Caged Bird Seal. Best of all though, she'd found a way to get through the bullshit that was a political clan marriage that didn't result in her marrying an asshole. All of that didn't change one simple fact thought: there was no fire in Hinata's life.

"Honestly, Hinata, I don't what to tell you. That's never really been a problem for me. Working for the clan's always been enough for me. Well, that and keeping an eye out for my best friends, anyways."

They Hyuuga heiress smiled a bit at the last part of Kiba's sentence. Akamaru gave a small bark of approval as well. Hinata was currently sitting on the bathroom floor, leaning up against the tub Kiba was bathing in. Kiba had always been good to Hinata from the first moment they'd met, and their friendship had lasted well beyond that. Of course, they may have had something to do with the fact Hinata was one of the few who knew Kiba's dark secret, "In all fairness, Kiba-chan, you've also got something else to distract from any of the thing I worry about. Hiding your true self from everyone takes up a lot of your time."

Kiba groaned at the memories of everything she'd had to do today alone to hide the truth from citizens of the Hidden Leaf. Yes, she. The young boy who'd quite possibly been the most brash, crude member of the rookie nine was in fact a woman. This was something she'd been hiding essentially from the moment she was born, and it had been hidden for one simple reason: the sake of her clan. In a nutshell, the clan had gone through a massive overhaul after the death of Kiba's father, who had been the clan head at the time, during the Kyuubi's escape. Tsume had the right to take over the clan in her husband's stead, but the majority of the council had been heavily traditional and weren't too keen on the idea of a woman taking over. From the second Tsume took over, they were trying to find a way to force her out and have the next male in line become the clan head. It was up to Tsume to find a way to stop them from giving away her children's birthright. Being several months pregnant, she was able to convince just enough council members to vote to hold off appointing a new clan head until her child was born and the gender was revealed. Most of the clan had held Kiba's father in high regard, and wished to see his bloodline remain at the head of the clan. Things got rather complicated when Kiba was born a girl, but Tsume had a backup plan for that as well. Until the older, more traditional members of the council passed on and were replaced with enough people who realized a woman could lead a clan just as well as a man, Kiba would be presented to the world as a male.

That had come with it's own set of challenges, most of which weren't too bad when she was younger as he feminine features could be hidden with baggy clothes, that grew increasingly difficult to manage as the years went on. Puberty was a tough time in particular, as her curves became too prominent to hidden by a simple sweatshirt. The girl had to live in an almost constant henge, and even under that was an elaborate setup of clothing designed to make her look just boyish enough for her to run somewhere safe without anyone noticing in case something were to happen. It had been trial to say the least, and there had been more than one close call that nearly resulted in the whole thing crumbling down, but Kiba had managed to keep the act up long enough now that only one council member needed to be replaced before the whole charade could be dropped. For Kiba, that was an event that couldn't arrive too soon.

"Hinata-chan, I love you, but please don't remind me about all that bullshit right now. This is the one place in the Hidden Leaf where I can relax and be myself. All I wanna focus on while I'm here is warm water and helping you, okay?"

"Alright, if that's what you want," Hinata replied, "Honestly though, I'm not sure if there's anything you can do. It's not the kind of problem you can just get over in one night."

Kiba nodded as he rubbed a washcloth across her face. She was a real knockout without her henge on, looking and sounding an awful lot like her mother. The warm water helped her think, bringing her back to the time when Hinata's world view had slowly began to change, "Hm… Hinata, I'm gonna ask you something, and I need you to be honest with me. Is this about Naruto?"

"Yes and no," Hinata admitted, searching for the proper words to explain herself, "It's not necessarily about Naruto-kun himself, not exactly anyways. I know I loved him, at least as much as some my age was capable of anyways, but that alone isn't enough to make me feel like this. It's just… well, Naruto-kun kind of represented something for me. I'd watch him train all the time, and day after day, knockdown after knockdown, he'd always get up and try again. The kind of determination he had inspired me I guess, that and the fact that you couldn't get him to back down no matter what the circumstances. If Naruto-kun thought something wasn't right, he was going to stand up and say it, no matter what the consequences for him were. That kind of thing was actually how we first met. He was protecting me from a group of bullies, even though he had to know he never stood a chance against them. It didn't matter to Naruto-kun; what mattered was that he saw someone who needed help. What do you do with something like that?"

"Uzumaki was his own beast alright. I always thought he was kinda cute, but I never did anything cause you liked him way more than I did," Kiba said with a nod, "Did I ever tell you how hung he was? Seriously, when I had to use the boy's locker room with him back in the day-"

Hinata's entire face went crimson, "Kiba-chan! Not the time!"

"Hehe… sorry."

In her heart, Hinata knew Kiba was only trying to lighten the mood with a little humour. She couldn't get too mad at her, "It's fine. The point I'm trying to make is, if someone with the determination and heart of Naruto-kun couldn't make a difference, what chance does someone like me have, or anyone have for that matter?"

Kiba hated seeing her friend in a state like this, "Hinata-chan, don't be so hard on yourself. You've already made plenty of difference, especially in my life. I don't know what I would've done without you. Everything I've been through, from my first crush to the the council pressuring me into finding a wife, you've been there. Not to mention the fact that you're a hell of a shinobi in your own right and you're killing it with all your clan work. You're incredible, Hinata-chan, even if you don't know it."

"Thank you, Kiba-chan, but I can't take credit for all of that. The political marriage was for both us. I didn't want to marry some dick from a high family anymore than you did, your situation was a little more volatile than mine. I guess I am proud of what I've done for my clan and how far I've come as a shinobi though..."

"You should be," Kiba told her friend as she reached for the bath stopper on the other side of the tub, "I can't just sit around and watch when you're in a mood like this. We're going down stairs and I'm gonna make you some cinnamon buns."

Hinata started shaking her head when she heard the bathwater washing down the drain, "You don't have to do that, Kiba-chan."

It was too later. Kiba was already drying herself off and stepping out of the tub, "You're right; I don't have to, but I want to. Doing things that makes you happy makes me happy. So, we're going to go downstairs, I'm going to make you sweets, and we're gonna spend the rest of the night telling funny stories to try and cheer you up. Got it?"

"Yeah, I got it," Hinata giggled. She was grateful to have a friend like Kiba around. There weren't many people she could rely on as heavily as she did her Inuzuka 'husband.' It may have been a fake marriage, but there was real love within it, an odd love that had grown from their friendship. Neither woman was ready to commit fully to the act, but they couldn't deny they had an understanding of each other that went beyond friendship. Although it wasn't without it's trials, "If you want some funny stories, how about our wedding day? Never thought in a million years that my first kiss would with you."

Kiba snorted with laughter, "Oh man, that was so weird. Not bad I guess, but I couldn't get out of my head that it was you I was kissing. Just kinda awkward, ya know?"

"Yeah, I do," Hinata agreed. She let Kiba exit the bathroom so she could head to her bedroom and get some clothes on. After a moment of quiet contemplation, Hinata called to friend, "Kiba-chan, if we're gonna be talking about things tonight, one of those things should probably be what we're gonna do about the deadline."

"I said funny stories, Hinata-chan," Kiba called back, "That definitely doesn't count."

Hinata wasn't laughing about it either, but that was beside the point, "We can't keep putting it off. We're supposed to conceive a child within the next year or we breach both clan's marriage contracts. If we don't think up something soon-"

Before Hinata could finish, Kiba popped out in front of her shorts and a baggy t-shirt and threw a hand over the girl's mouth, "We'll get done eventually. There's a good chance we'll have to bring somebody else into the fold to do it, but we'll take care of this. Not tonight though. Tonight, we eat, drink, and laugh. Okay?"

Kiba pulled her hand down, allowing Hinata to ask, "When did we add drinking to the list?"

"Just now. You got a problem with that?"

"Not at all. Just don't get too handsy when you drink too much tonight."

There were just too many good responses for Kiba to pass up. She started to tease Hinata as they, accompanied by Akamaru, made their way down stairs, "Aw, that's no fun. Aren't you the one who's been saying you've got some 'urges' you wanna work out? Maybe I could help. After all, I wanna please my 'wife.'"

Hinata started blushing, "Kiba-chan-"

"And it's not fair to taunt me with that body of your's. Seriously, you're like a goddess."

The more Kiba spoke, the redder Hinata got, "Please, you're embarrassing me."

"Aw, I didn't mean to do that. What do you say we go upstairs and I'll apologize. We just can't be too loud. Akamaru might think I'm in danger if I start screaming too much."

That remark, along with fact that Akarama barked in confirmation, was enough to earn a laugh from Hinata. This was going to be interesting night. More interesting that she realized in fact…

* * *

The night had been going well so far Hinata and her 'husband'. Kiba's cinnamon buns had been fantastic, they'd had some good sake, (even sharing just a touch of it with Akamaru), and stories flowed like water. Nice, relaxing, and nobody was too drunk yet. For Hinata, this was just about a perfect night, and she was more than happy to end it there.

Everyone was sitting at a circular kitchen table, the dark oak matching the natural decor that Tsume loved, when Hinata stood up from her chair and said, "Okay Kiba-chan, this has been fun and all, but I think we'd better call it a night. We've both got things to do tomorrow, don't we?

"Aw, come on Hinata-chan," Kiba pouted, not ready to end their story session, "I didn't even get to tell you about the merchant I was hired to protect the other day! He looked so good, I almost thought about dropping my henge and trying to convince him I was a civilian girl so I could just jump his bones real quick!"

"We really need to do something about your repressed urges, Kiba-chan… what happened to that toy I bought you last week?" Hinata asked with a blush. Normally a Hyuga would be against visiting such establishments, but with her friend's urges and the difficulty in a 'man' purchasing such items without raising suspicions, sacrifices must be made.

"I don't know," Kiba answered honestly, "Maybe Akamaru buried it in the yard again. I swear sometimes it seems he's the one trying to get us in bed together the hardest."

Akamaru barked and wagged his tail. There was a big soft spot in the pup for Hinata, one that had been there since the day he'd met the Hyuuga heiress. She was one of the few people outside the Inuzuka clan who fully understood how smart Akamaru was, and treated him as more than a giant plushy. Sure, at the end of the day Akamaru had many of the same quirks and ways of showing his emotions that a regular dog did, but he was more than just a pet. Hinata appreciated that, and in return, he appreciated Hinata.

However, the exceptional pup and all of his idiosyncrasies weren't what need to be focused on at the moment. That would be getting to bed, which Hinata fully intended to do, "Well, Kiba-chan, staying up longer won't solve any of our problems, so I'm gonna go get some sleep. You're welcome to do the same if you'd like."

"You really aren't _any_ fun anymore, Hinata-chan," Kiba grumbled, her eyes following the girl as she pushed herself away from the table and made her way out of the room. Hinata took a left out of the room and exited Kiba's view… only to return within it a few seconds later when she stepped to where she'd first turned. There was a small, circular mirror just as standing high on the wall where she'd stopped, and the Hyuuga heiress was staring into it intetly. Too intently for Kiba's liking to be exact, "You see something in there you don't like? Do you have some shit on your face or-"

"Kiba-chan… come here."

"What for?"

Hinata didn't have time to explain, "Now, Kiba!"

"Alright, hold your horses," Kiba grumbled, jumping up from the table and walking over to the same mirror Hinata stood at, "I'm sure whatever it is, it can't be that… bad."

Whatever train of thought Kiba had before she looked into the mirror was gone now. Her thoughts were occupied completely by what she saw in what should've been the reflection of she and Hinata. Akamaru could sense some kind of tension in the room, so he hurried over to the two girls. Using his back legs as support, the dog went upright, using his front legs to support himself on the wall, and looked into the mirror that had his friends so transfixed. He began to growl and bark the moment he saw what Hinata and Kiba already had.

There was a man in the mirror, one none of them recognized. He was grinning like a cheshire cat, and everyone in the room could've sworn he was looking right at them. They'd find out exactly who he was soon enough, though Naruto could've told them who it was if he were there. Naruto would've begged them to run too, but it was too late for that. The man in the mirror close his eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them again, releasing a blinding light that made everything vanish in a sea of white...

* * *

...when the group could see again, they were no longer in their home. Instead they stood in a place that could only be described as empty. There wasn't anything in site around them, with the exception of a grey floor their feet rested on. Kiba was the first to speak after taking a brief glance in front of her, "Someone mind telling me where in the fuck we are right now?"

"I believe I can handle that ," A smooth voice behind them said, making the girls and the dog spin around to find the man from the mirror standing before them, "Hello, ladies. My name is Mephisto. Sorry about the abrupt way I called you here, but time is of the essence."

Before Mephisto got out another word, Akamaru began to growl and bark at him. Kiba took notice and narrowed her eyes, "Akamaru doesn't trust you… that mean I don't trust you either, fuckface."

"You're just as brash as I thought you'd be," Mephisto muttered before glancing over at Akamaru, "And I'll give the dog this; he's a good judge of character. I'm here to make Hinata an offer. It's an offer that's going to do _wonderful_ things for me, I'll admit that much, but you'll be gaining an awful lot yourselves too, I assure you."

Hinata took a couple of steps back, not liking the feeling of even being in the same proximity as this man, "Hold on. We still don't even know who you are. All we've got is your name. We're gonna need a little more than that."

These girls were really going to drag out this whole process. Then again, that was probably for the best. It meant they were smart enough for them to be worth Mephisto's while, "I, Miss Hyuuga, am a being born in the fires of the my dimension's underworld. Over the centuries, my power has grown, making me strong enough to have influence in worlds outside of my own. Needless to say, there's plenty I can do for you if you're willing to work with me."

"What exactly do you mean 'your dimension?'"

Mephisto chuckled at Hinata's ignorance, "Oh, it's always fun dealing with dimensions so much less advanced than my own. You see, my dear, sweet child, there are worlds well beyond your own, more than you could ever imagine. Some differ from your own only slightly, others have changes that'd make your head spin. One of those dimensions is the one I came from… and it's also the one where your beloved Naruto still resides."

Now he had Hinata's attention, "What are you talking about? Naruto's dead!"

"In your world maybe, but I snatched up his soul and gave him a new life in mine. However, he's going to be in grave danger soon, facing something I don't know if he can handle on his own. I need someone to help him, and that's where you come in."

Kiba didn't like what she was hearing, "Are you fucking with me right now? Do you really expect us to believe all that? What proof do you have?"

Another good question, but it was also one that got on Mephisto's nerves. He'd had a long day already, and the idea of explain himself to these green as grass fools wasn't all that appealing. There was a way to expedite the whole process though, and Mephisto intended on using it, "Let me put your minds at ease, girls. Look into my eyes for moment."

"Oh, this just keeps getting better," Kiba groaned, but she had to admit, she found herself compelled to do as the man had asked. Not to mention the fact that if he planned on hurting them, he probably would've done it already. Both she and Hinata looked into the stranger's eyes and found themselves experience something beyond words.

The world around the girls flashed into a sea of white light once again, but this time it felt as though the entire process was in fast-forward. They would see a new world for a split second, less than a second in fact, and then BAM, they'd be in another. This happened hundred of times, giving Hinata and Kiba glimpses of worlds different from their own. It was almost enough to make them go insane, or at least it would've been if Mephisto wasn't controlling the process so carefully. Whatever this was, it wasn't an illusion. Both girl _felt_ the locations they were in, felt it right down to their bones. This made it all the more mind boggling when, for the tiniest of moments, they got a peek at someone who was supposed to be long dead… Naruto Uzumaki, riding down a road on a device they'd never seen before. A motorcycle of course, but they didn't know that.

Mephisto pulled them out at the moment, leaving Hinata and Kiba's heads spinning, "So, ladies, do you believe me now?"

"Okay… that was terrifying," Kiba replied, rubbing her temples with her hands, "Just terrifying enough to make me think you might actually be able to do what you say you can. That doesn't mean we can trust you though, especially when we don't even know what kinda offer you're making Hinata!"

With a snap of his fingers, Mephisto summoned a line of flame about eight inches long in front of him. Like paper from a printing press, a contract flowed from the line, one similar to the version Naruto had signed before, "This contract is all the trust you're ever going to need. It states each of our duties to one another quite clearly, and it insure you'll be able to see Naruto once again… and possibly even save his life in the process. Oh, and there's a few other little goodies in there as well. For example: Kiba, I'm sure you're tired of this dress-up game you have to play everyday for the sake of your clan. I may not be able to do much in your world, what with all restrictions that come with using my powers in other dimensions, but even I can give a heart attack to the last old geezer that's preventing the council from instating a female clan head permanently."

Kiba was both thrilled and terrified. On one hand, this guy could help her clan out in a big way… on the other, he was diabolical enough to know Hinata had a hard time turning down something that could help a friend, "A nice offer, but I don't want Hinata-chan doing this for my sake."

"Who said it would just be for you?" Mephisto asked with a wicked grin, "I can do things for her other loved ones as well. Is she worried her poor, stuck up cousin Neji might die alone? I can influence him to ask out that pretty little teammate of his he's been eyeing so fondly. Tenten, was it? And as for her baby sister, Hanabi, I can influence your father into making her the clan heiress once you leave, and the contract insures that I have to come back and influence the council into removing the Caged Bird Seal once she's in control. Think about that, Hinata? Think about all the good you can do with just a stroke of a pen. Granted, you'll have to work for me, but I assure you, even that work will bring joy to a lot of people."

There was a look in Hinata's eyes that Kiba didn't like. Honestly, the guy's offer sounded great… which is exactly what made Kiba so suspicious of it, "Work for you? What, are you planning on whoring her out or something?"

Mephisto rolled his eyes and shook his head, "Of course not. She'll be bringing me the souls of some nasty individuals, that's' all. If she wants to indulge the sins of the flesh, she can do it on her own time."

"I… I want to do it," Hinata said all of a sudden, "I want to sign the contract!"

"That a girl," Mephisto bellowed, "I knew you wouldn't be selfish enough to turn it down. Just give me your hand, and I'll get the process moving."

This was bad, really REALLY bad! All Hinata think about was all the good she was going to do for the people she loved. This bastard was almost shaming her into doing this! Kiba tried to reached out before Hinata's hand to could reach Mephisto, and Akamaru tried to snap at the man too, but it was useless. Mephisto raised up his hand, five sharpened fingernails on all five digits of it, and slashed them away, cutting both Kiba's hand and Akamaru's snout. The sharpened fingernails dripped blood, some of which unintentionally hit the contract Hinata was ready to sign. Kiba was nearly out of time, "Hinata-chan, hold on! You're not thinking straight! Everything this guy says sounds nice, but he's not giving you all the facts! I know you're doing this to help everyone else, but you've got to worry about yourself too."

Hinata couldn't hear Kiba. Her friends words were nothing but white noise. All the Hyuuga heiress could think about was those she loved getting everything they had ever desired. Her hand reached Mephisto and he took, slicing Hinata's thumb with his fingernail. Once blood began to ooze from it, he lead her hand down to the contract at let her do the rest. Hinata signed her name in blood, hitting the drops of Kiba and Akamaru's blood along the way, and sealed her fate. Mephisto couldn't have been happier, "Wonderful… I'll see you on the other side."

"Hinata-chan," Kiba cried out, but it was too late. The contract transformed into a ball of purple flame that hung in the air before shooting towards Hinata. A white light began to overtake them, and everything soon started to vanish, "No! Hinata-chaaaaaan!"

* * *

When Hinata regained her senses and the white faded away to reveal the new world, she found herself in a place that almost felt familiar. It was an overgrown forest, filled to the brim with pine trees that stretched far into the sky. The whole place smelled of fresh air and maple sap. This was the kind of place where Hinata could enjoyed a peaceful night by herself… that is, if she had been by herself, "Kiba-chan? What the hell are you doing here? And Akamaru too? What the hell's going on?"

Kiba and Akamaru were both laying on a pile of dead pine needles, groaning to themselves. They pushed themselves up off the rich dirt and Kiba said, "Ah man, my head's killing me. What the fuck just happened? Hinata, what are we doing here?

" _That would be partially my fault. Partially yours too, but I'll admit it's partially mine,"_ The voice of Mephisto rang in everyone's head. It terrified the hell out of them at first, but after everything they seen today, adjusting to a simple voice in their head was rather easy, " _You blood was still on the contract when Hinata signed it. While she's the only one who gave her signature, and is thus the only one bound to me, the contract was meant to pull the essence of anyone who touched it into this dimension. A minor error. Nothing much I can could do about it now though. Let it roll off your back and focus on what's coming towards you next…"_

"What's coming at us next?" Hinata echoed, "What's that supposed to mean?"

A massive roar would be her answer. It felt entire forest began to shake around them as the footsteps of a massive beast began to grow closer towards them. Poor Akamaru didn't know whether to growl or whimper. The sound of trees being knocked over could be heard in the distance until the beast who'd be approaching them finally came into view. Kiba went pale the second she saw it, "Oh this is not gonna end well…"

Standing before them was a massive, fur-covered humanoid beast with fangs and razor sharp claws. It was nearly eight feet tall and covered head to toe in muscles. There was a rage in the creature's crimson eyes that would make most men either. Mephisto sounded off again in the girl's minds, " _That big, pissed off son of a bitch would be Wendigo. He's your first target, Hinata. Do me a favor and try and bring him down without killing him. No biggie if you can't though. The important thing is have some fun with your new powers..."_

" Are you fucking kidding me?" Hinata asked before Wendigo began charging at them, "Dammit, what new powers are you talking about?"

Kiba did what any good Inuzuka would do when their friend was in danger: rushed in to defend her. She lept into the air and tried to get her tunneling fang going, intent on tearing this thing apart, "Alright, fur-face, let's see how you handle this!"

Another roar left Wendigo's mouth. Kiba came hurly towards him, trying to get her body spinning fast enough to create the flying drill her family was famous for. She found herself unable to muster up the usual power for some reason she did not yet understand, and the attack was barely at half power. Wendigo smacked her away the second she got close, sending Kiba hurdling into a nearby tree. Hinata watched as her friend smacked her back onto the unforgiving bark and then landed on the ground below, knocking the breath out of the Inuzuka. The Hyuuga heiress had no intention of just letting the beast do something like that to Kiba, so she got into her fight stance, "Leave her alone, you monster!"

"Grrraaahhh," Wendigo cried before charging towards Hinata. The girl waited for him to get close, letting the monster take a swipe at her before she did anything. Hinata ducked under the attack and went right for his pressure points with her Gentle Fist style. It was enough to send the beast reeling back, if only for a second. In no time at all, Wendigo shook off the attack and snatched Hinata by the throat before she could react. Hot breath pour onto Hinata's face as the monster roared, "Gggaaaaaahhh!"

Wendigo slammed Hinata onto the ground, sending pain coursing through the girl's body. She could've sworn she heard some bones break when she hit, "Ahhh! F-fuck… I can't…"

"Don't move, Hinata-chan," Kiba begged, trying to get to her feet. Wendigo heard this and turned towards her, "I can handle this."

The attacks had clearly hit the Inuzuka woman hard. She could barely stand, and Akamaru could see it. A desire to protect his master took over the pup, and he leapt in front of Kiba and began barking, trying to scare away Wendigo. It didn't work. Wendigo kept on walking towards them, murder in his eyes. Kiba tried to make a herself a man beast clone, but she couldn't do it. No chakra would come to her. Without her powers, she was at the mercy of the monster in front of her.

' _It can't end like this,"_ Hinata thought to herself, ' _I can't have come to this new just to die in it… I… I won't! I refuse to! This thing ISN'T OVER!'_

With a newfound strength, Hinata pushed herself up off the ground and grabbed the nearest rock she could find. She held it tightly in her fist and called to the Wendigo, "Hey, you! Big, hairy, and ugly! I'm not done with you yet!"

Wendigo turned towards her, ready to roar, but Hinata cocked her arm back and threw her rock before he could begin. The moment after that rock left Hinata's hand, something incredible happened. A purple flame began to engulf the pebble, a flame that grew and grew. It flew through the air until it was a full blown fireball that struck Wendigo dead-on, scorching his furry chest, "Gaaaahhh!"

"You want a fight, Wendigo?" Hinata asked in a voice filled with confidence. A layer of the same purple flame starting to coat her body, "Then you can get it from me!"

In a blaze of glory, Hinata's form changed completely. Her clothes had transformed into spiked high heeled knee high boots, leather pants, a black bikini top, a spiked collar, and a black bandana that covered her mouth and nose. Unlike most riders though, her form didn't turn completely skeletal. No, instead it glowed a purplish hue, with flaming hair to match. A chain fell from her arm, one covered in her purple flame. Hinata swung it with all of her strength and wrapped the chain around Wendigo's neck. She pulled it tight, cutting off the beast's air supply. This fight had taken a rather swift turn in Hinata's favor "How do you like that, asshole? I think it's time we end this thing, eh?"

Kiba couldn't have agreed more, and she refused not to be a part of it. She turned towards Akamaru, who'd been watching the entire thing with her, and gave her partner a nod. The dog knew what it meant. As a team, the two of them charged towards Wendigo, whose back was facing towards them, and lowered their shoulders. They rammed themselves into the beast, sending it flying towards Hinata, who held her ground right up until it was about to hit her. Once it was right where she wanted it, Hinata kicked Wendigo in the stomach and sent him straight up into the air with the chain still wrapped around his neck. Soon, the chain ran out of slack, and that was when the end would come for Wendigo.

"Grrrraaaahhh," Was the beast's final cry before the chain ran out. Hinata held on tight as her weapon reached its maximum tension and Wendigo's neck hit the back of the chain. Like a hot knife through butter, the scorched metal tore through the monster's fur and flesh, and it didn't stop until Wendigo's head flew clean off from his body. Both the head and body fell to the ground not long after.

"And that's how you kill a Wendigo," Hinata said with a smile. It was then that she realized Kiba was staring at her, for rather obvious reasons. She looked down at her new form and said with a sigh, "Well this is turning out to be an… interesting turn of events, huh?"

Kiba rolled her eyes, "Yeah, you can say that again. Gotta say thought, I am digging your new look. I mean, you were hot before, but now you're literally on fire."

"That's real cute, Kiba-chan," Hinata replied. Admittedly, she did feel like a badass right now. Yep, like a skilled, sexy, tough as nails badass. Her new powers really something… now if only she had some idea of what to make of all this, "This whole things has been crazy. Good thing I know the guy who can give us some answers."

That was when they heard a familiarly demented voice behind them, "That you do, Ms. Hyuuga…"

* * *

"Aw man, that ride was fucking brutal," Naruto groaned as he stepped into his hotel room. It had been a long day of almost constant riding, with only the occasional food or bathroom break to mix up the monotony. Laura hadn't liked it anymore than Naruto did, that much was obvious from the way she'd vanished into her room the second her riding partner got their card keys. The hotel they were staying at was nothing too fancy, but it wasn't a roach's nest either. Decent beds, fresh sheets, clean bathrooms, and plenty of place to gather supplies nearby. That was all they really needed, "Yep, I can work with this alright. It ain't even close to the worst place I've ever had to stay in."

Naruto laid on his crimson colored bed for awhile before deciding he should probably check on Laura and make sure she didn't need anything for the night. He jumped up, walked to his door, and opened it, letting the night air of Santa Fe, New Mexico hit his face. Once he doubled checked to make sure he had his key card in his pocket, he headed over to the room next to his and knocked on the door. There was no answer, "Laura, you in there? I just wanted to check on you one last time for the night. Everything good?"

Instead of a proper, vocalized response, what Naruto heard from the other side of the door was a level of snoring that you'd expect to hear coming out of a small bear. There was no doubt this was Laura's room though, which could only mean one thing. He thought to himself, ' _Damn, she's already out. Guess it was a pretty long day. Huh… as long as she's out, guess I might as well check out the town and see if I can't take care of_ that _. Not sure when the next chance I'll get it, and the feelings already coming back. I swear Mephisto's been making it worse lately… can he do that, actually? Eh, whatever. Let's go out and see what this town's got to offer.'_

* * *

Naruto had always hated college parties. The only reason he ever went to them was out of necessity. Constant flashing lights and the smell of ten different people's vape pens filling the air was far from his definition of fun. Still, that was where he had the best luck finding girls his own age, and that was what he was looking for tonight. There was nothing wrong with older women of course, in fact they tended to be more to his taste in terms of personality, but they also tended to take longer to court. As much as Naruto preferred not to think that way, he knew what he was looking for tonight was a simple hookup, and the best place to find that in Santa Fe was a frat party with girls his age. Luckily enough, it was a Halloween, which meant he'd have no trouble finding exactly what he was looking for.

He was standing on dance floor at the moment, or at least a living room the frat kids had emptied out and threw some speakers into in order to make a dance floor, leaning up against a wall while he tried to decide which girl he'd speak with. Naruto's search of drunken teenagers brought his attention to something else before long, the kind of thing he refused to ignore.

"I was just telling you how hot ya looked in that outfit. You don't have to be a bitch about it," A wasted frat slob in a police officer costume said to the young lady he was looming over, "Don't tell me ya come here dressed as like that and didn't expect to get hit on?"

The girl he was hitting on looked about Naruto's age, with black hair, brown eyes, and tan skin, (Naruto was fairly certain she was hispanic). As to the 'outfit' the frat boy referred to, well that was, (ironically enough), a fox costume. It was comprised of black leggings, a fake orange-white tipped tail, fox ears, and an orange leotard that hugged her curves. She looked good, no doubt, but she looked equally as pissed with the guy in front of her, "You can hit on me all you want, asshole but it isn't gonna get you anywhere. I'm telling you right now, I'm not interested! Fuck off! Oh, and by the way a girl deciding she want to look good for the night doesn't mean she wants to sleep with you, dumbass!"

"Oh fuck you! That's like setting a steak in front of a dog and getting made when they try to eat it! Girls like you really are a big, fat, cu-gah!"

That was on insult that would never be finished. Naruto was already behind the drunken moron, spinning him around to grab the college boy by his throat. Once he could no longer speak, Naruto said what was on his mind "You know I really hate that 'dog' analogy. If you train your dog the way you should, you shouldn't have any trouble stopping him from eating anything. All you have do is tell him NO! Now, seeing as you're not deaf, I'm gonna guess you heard this girl say NO, and just ignored her. That's a real shame… because it means I'm gonna have to do something that you can't ignore!"

Before the drunk idiot could so much as get his hands up, Naruto's fist shot out and decked him, knocking the college boy out in one swift motion. Naruto dropped him and started shaking his head, "And I thought college was the place you were supposed to go to learn something. Apparently manors isn't on that list, eh?"

"I guess not," The girl who was being pestered before answered, "I could've handled that myself you know?"

Naruto shrugged, "I'm sure you could've, but I wanted to knock the asshole out myself. I'm Naruto, by the way. Naruto Uzumaki."

"Ava Ayala," The girl replied. She looked down at her costume and let out a small sigh, "This thing isn't even that bad. I mean, it's kinda sexy I guess, but it was the best looking costume my friend had. She kinda dragged me here last minute…"

"Don't mind the idiot, you certainly aren't a bitch. In fact, I'd say you look more like a vixen. You don't think this thing was your fault, do you?"

"Hm, oh, not a chance in hell. I just can't believe how little it takes to make some guys think you want in their pants."

Unfortunately, there was a lot of truth to what Ava said, "Yeah, there's a lot of asshole in this world. You're costume does look nice though. Don't let that jerk ruin it for you. I kinda feel like I stick out since, I'm not wearing anything special."

Ava looked at his leather jacket and white t-shirt and thought out loud, "You've got kind of the whole biker thing going on. That's kind of costume."

"Okay, but am I the 'get drunk tear up the bar' kind of biker, or the 'I like the freedom of the road and don't wanna start anything' kind of biker?"

"You'd better be the second one, or you're gonna find out I'm the 'tear your throat out' kind of fox."

Naruto could already tell this was gonna be a fun night.

* * *

Ava talked with Naruto for hour and hours, sticking with each other until the party's end and even doing a little dancing before the night was over. The two of them really clicked with one another, more so than Naruto had ever expected the would. They were still right by each other's sides as they walked out the front door of fraternity house and down the nearby sidewalk.

There was a small smile on Ava's lips as they walked, along with a blush on her cheeks. In a small voice, she asked Naruto, "So… my place or yours?"

"I um… I don't know," Naruto answered honestly, "Look, I've gotta be honest with you and say that I don't even live around here. I'm just passing through and thought maybe I could find a one night thing at this party. If you really want to, I'm totally up for it, but I don't wanna trick you thinking I'm trying to start a relationship right now."

Ava didn't look disappointed, "Who said I was looking for anything? I'm in the right mood and I like you. All I want right now is to spend the night with a nice guy. Dating isn't exactly a priority for me right now. I've got… other things to worry about."

Something in Naruto's gut wanted him to dig deeper into that last bit of what Ava had said. It seemed like there was more there, and honestly, the way this girl composed herself lead Naruto to believe she was more than an ordinary college student. However, this wasn't the time for that sort of thing. Ava was a nice girl looking for some fun, (as long as the fun was with a guy she approved of), and Naruto intended to give it to her, "Alright, Ava, if that's what you want, then that's what you'll get. I think it's time for us to head back to my hotel room…"


	3. The Road Ahead Pt 1

We are back, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you so much for joining us for another instalment of Uzumaki Rider. Today, we'll pick up where we left off with Naruto last time and get some more information on his and Laura's road trip, along with the obstacles they'll face along the way. Also, we know it's been a bit of a wait for our next chapter, but as we've said from the beginning, we can only manage what our schedules will allow. This a super fun hobby when we have the time though and we're thrilled to see so many people enjoying this story. Oh, before you go saying we got something from the canon of anime or comics 'wrong', please keep in mind this is a fanfic, and therefore we're going to change things… it's baffling that we still feel the need to remind people of that once and awhile. With that being said, let's jump right in! Also, HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

Chapter Soundtrack - Me and Mine: The Brothers Bright

* * *

Naruto and Ava came crashing into his hotel room with their lips already latched onto each other. They fell back onto the bed, Ava landing on top of Naruto, as their tongues danced around one another, both with more than enough skill to suggest they were no amateurs. Ava felt Naruto's hand slide down to her backside to give it a squeeze, making her break the kiss and moan, "Oh si! Eso es bueno!"

"Aw, damn that's hot," Naruto groaned, "You sound so sexy when you speak spanish!"

"Oh really?" Ava asked with a smirk. She leaned down beside Naruto's ear and whispered seductively, "Voy a hacerte gritar de placer."

Her voice and hot breath on his neck were enough to make Naruto shiver, "I don't know what you just said, but I'm game!"

Ava pressed her lips against his in another searing kiss. Naruto continued to slide his hands up and down her smooth, muscular body. It was perfectly toned, the kind of body that athletes strived for… only this wasn't the body of an athlete. The places she was toned suggested more of a fighter's build honestly, with enough muscle mass to the do some damage while keeping certain areas limber enough to dodge and duck quickly. No college student Naruto had ever met had a body that was this well suited to fighting. There was such precision to it that it couldn't help but make Naruto wonder even more who this girl really was.

Or at least he would've been wondering that if it hadn't been for the fact that Ava had just pulled his shirt off his body in one swift motion and began kissing down his neck and chest. Her soft lips and slick tongue glided across his body with ease, fully recapturing his attention, "Oooohhh, fuuuuuuuccckk!"

"You like that, eh?" Ava asked with a devious look in her eyes, "Well then tell me what you think of these and maybe you can return the favor."

Ava reached up the towards the top of her costume and pulled it down under her chest, allowing her breasts to bounce free. Naruto took in the C-cup mounds with perfect pink buds and said with a smile, "No bra? I like it. Pretty sure I felt a thong on perfect ass too. Someone's feeling a bit naughty tonight, huh?"

"My bra wouldn't fit under the leotard, and thong was more about avoiding panty lines," Ava corrected before she realized neither of those statements sounded all that sexy. Quickly recovering from her misspeak, Ava began grinding on Naruto's crotch and jiggled her breasts in front of his face, "But I'm glad you like it, and you'd better be ready for how naughty I'm gonna get with you."

One look at the ample beauties in front of him was all Naruto needed to make up his mind about 'returning the favor.' He flipped Ava so that she was underneath him and proceeded to mirror the movements she'd done before, grinning up at her as he did, "Ava, I hope you didn't plan on sleeping much tonight, cause I wanna worship every inch of the vixen in front of me. You just lay back and relax for now… I'm about to get wild."

There was time for Ava to ask what that meant before Naruto got back to work, forcing her mind to be fogged by nothing but pure pleasure. These two were feeling a special kind of connection tonight, the kind that Naruto had only flirted with during his time with She-Hulk and a few others. It was special for Naruto, special enough that he almost wondered if one night was going to be enough. For now it would have to be, and he was going to thank Ava for this incredible night by making it one she would never forget.

* * *

Eventually night turned to day, and although Naruto greatly enjoyed his time with Ava he awoke to a familiar sight...an empty bedroom. Ava was gone by the time Naruto woke up, with nothing but a note attached to a small gift on his bed. The gift was an orange pair of painties Aya had been wearing the night before, and the attached note read 'Dear Naruto, hope you had fun fox hunting last night. I know I did. My numbers on the back of this, give me a call sometime. We might get lucky and end up in same town sometime. Hell, you can even call me if you just want to talk. I move around a lot, so I'll be sure and text you all about my adventures. Sincerely-Your Vixen, Ava.'

Naruto couldn't help but smile at the note. He was sad to see Ava go, seeing as he'd felt one hell of a connection with the girl, but he tried to remain optimistic. Who knew? Maybe he'd see her again one day. All he could do was hope. Right now though, he needed to get out of bed and get back on the road. There was no doubt Laura would be waiting for him.

* * *

By the time Naruto got out to the parking lot and found his ride, he discovered that Laura was already waiting for him. She leaning up against the bike as he walked towards her, "It's about time you got out here. I've been waiting for you forever. What, did you have to say goodbye the girl you were with last night?"

Naruto couldn't believe she even knew about that. She'd been passed out the last time he checked on her, "How'd figure it out? I thought you were sound sleep in your room."

"I was, until the two of you started going absolutely crazy in there."

Oh no, she'd been listening. Naruto cringed when he asked, "How much did you hear?"

"Si si si! Oh yes Naruto! Dame mas," Laura cried out, doing a pretty spot-on impression of the noises Ava had been making the night before, "Fuck me-"

Naruto slapped his hand over her mouth as fast as he could, "Cut that out! People are gonna hear you!"

Once the hand was removed for her mouth, Laura fried back, "I'm pretty sure they heard plenty last night. You guys were louder than you think… you were having sex, right? That's what I heard in there?"

"Well yeah," Naruto answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world. He realized a split second after that Laura asking the question was more predictable than thought, "I guess you growing up in a lab means you never really learn much about that stuff, huh?"

Laura scowled. She didn't much care for talking about the lab or her upbringing, "I learned enough, alright? I mean, I recognized the sound of it and all that crap. And that sound, by the way, kept me up last night! It's pretty irritating, so you'd better not make it a regular thing."

If only that was an option, "Sorry, but I can't do much about that. I um… I kind of have to have sex every couple of days."

"Are you that fucking perverted?"

"No! It's not like that," Naruto defend himself. His anger quickly subsided and let out a short sigh. He knew how ridiculous it had to sound, but he had a way to explain it, "Have you noticed that we've been stopping to eat a lot on our way? As in I'm eating almost constantly?"

Laura nodded, "Yeah, I don't know where you put it all though. You're the most in shape guy I've ever seen."

Now they were getting closer to Naruto's point, "That's because of my metabolism. Part of the whole 'Ghost Rider' deal is that my body needs a whole more of certain things than regular people do. That includes thing like eating and my need for um… release, we'll say."

"So you've got certain needs that are put into overdrive," Laura summarized, "Alright, I can buy that. Is it a science thing, or is it is some kind of curse deal?"

"It's a curse, I'm 99.9% sure," Naruto said with a growl, "Believe me, the constant need for food is a real pain in the ass, I'm supposed to get more sleep too, but making time for that in the day is impossible, so I had to learn how to do it this weird meditating way, and with sex… well, that's a whole other can of worms I can't get into right now."

For obvious reasons, Laura had other questions she wanted answers for, "Okay, so if don't eat food you'll starve and you don't sleep you'll pass out, those ones are pretty obvious, but what about the sex thing? What happens if you hold off on that too long?"

Naruto rolled his eyes at the fact that she went for the one thing he'd said he didn't wanna talk about, "Things get bad. I start shaking, I can't focus on anything, and whole lot of other crap that isn't fun. Three and a half days is all it takes for me to loose my shit, and jerking off can only do so much for a guy. Eventually, you need something real, ya know?"

"Well yeah. If you feed a starving man a grape, he'll be happier, but he'll still be hungry," Laura replied with a shrug, "So what do you to make sure you get laid that often? It can't be easy."

"It's not, but I've got my ways. I mean, no one's suave enough to get the girl every time, so sometimes I've gotta go down a route I'm not really a fan of."

Laura raised her eyebrows, "This better not be going anywhere I don't like. If I find out you're jumping girls-"

"What? No, never!" Naruto screamed before she could finish. His voice was thick with disgust, "I get a call-girl sometimes if I really need it bad, but I would never resort to forcing myself on anyone! I've got all kinds of shit in place to make sure I never get to a place where I'm even thinking about something like that! No matter how what happens or how bad it gets, I'll never do something like that… ever!"

The anger in his voice was as clear as day, but there was something else Laura heard mixed in with it: fear. A fear that his powers had the potential to make him lose control. Naruto had clearly thought long and hard about doing whatever it took to keep that scenario far, far away. Laura could see why Naruto had been avoiding the subject, and she had a feeling there was more there she hadn't even scratched the surface of yet, so she decided to leave it at that. It was time to go anyways, "Whatever you say, Naruto. You wanna hope on the bike so we can get the hell out of here already?"

Naruto nodded, grateful to for the chance to put his mind on other things, "Yeah, definitely. Go ahead and hope on. We should be able to get a little more than halfway there by the time the day's over. Hope you're ready for an intense ride."

"Isn't that something you said to your fuck-buddy last night?"

"Just get on the damn bike."

* * *

Nothing could beat the feeling Naruto got from riding down the highway on his motorcycle. The way the wind blew through his hair and the power of the machine underneath were like nothing else in the world to him. If didn't need to eat or sleep, (or fuck), he probably wouldn't have bothered getting off the damn thing. Naruto would just kick back and watch the world go by.

The idea of kicking back wasn't one Naruto would have for long. Some of the cars he'd passing without much concern for up until now were starting to make him nervous. Not because they looked special in anyways, quite the opposite in fact. It was the fact that three black vans all with the same kind of rectangular body had formed a sort triangle around him that had Naruto taking notice. Their speed was carefully matched Naruto's, with no attempts to pass or fall behind him in anyway. It must've bothered Laura, who was sitting Naruto with her arms wrapped around his waist, as well, because she whispered his ear, "This doesn't seem right… there's no way it's just a coincidence."

"Agreed," Naruto replied, his eyes moving between the various vans, "Questions is, are these guys here for you or for me?"

They wouldn't have to wait long for their answer. The van closest to them opened one of its back doors, revealing a man in body armor holding an automatic rifle. He had it aimed directly at Naruto and Laura, and on his shoulder was the infamous HYDRA Logo. Laura let out a small sigh, "It's me, and if they bothered with all this, I'd bet you anything they brought out-"

"Donald Pierce, at your service," A male voice called from inside the open van. There was a hint of a southern drawl to the way he spoke. The man himself, Donald Pierce, stepped into view just next to the HYDRA soldier. For the most part, he looked like a normal man, just over six feet tall with dark hair that starting to grey. He had a decently muscular frame that was covered in black combat armor and wore a pair of circular sunglasses with red lense. Most importantly of all though was his right arm. That particular limb of Donald's was entirely robotic. All together, this made up the image of man Naruto could already tell was going to prove dangerous. Pierce looked all too happy that Naruto had taken notice of that fact.

He called once over to his targets on the motorcycle, "It was awful naughty of you to run away from home like that, X-23. Should've known that men that made ya wouldn't take to kindly to it. Now then, Mr. Rider, why don't you go ahead and pull over for us. We don't want any trouble, just the girl.."

"Why don't you go ahead and suck my dick?" Naruto fired back, "It's either that or getting the hell out of my way, cause you're not getting Laura!"

Laura started to laugh behind Naruto. Pierce scowled at the way they were laughing off his threats. He turned to the HYDRA agent beside him and said, "I'm gonna grab the girl. Soon as I do, unload on that motherfucker in the driver's seat."

Just as the Naruto and Laura had expected, this was about to turn into a brawl. Pierce raised his robotic hand, aimed it at his mutant target, and fired. Fired what exactly? His freaking hand, that's what. It shot out of the robot base still on his arm and went flying towards Laura, still connected to said arm by a thick piece of metal wire. In a split second it reached the girl and grabbed her by the tanktop. Once Pierce was sure it was latched on tight, he tried to retract his arm and pull Laura right towards him. The next thing Laura knew, her behind was off the seat and her feet were hang in the air, "Heeeeyyy!"

"Oh, hell no," Naruto screamed at Pierce. With the speed of a gunslinger, Naruto whipped out his chain and sent it right for Laura. It flew towards her ankle, wrapping all the way around it so that Naruto could pull it tight. The result was Laura's body going completely horizontal, with her friend pulling her toward one direction while Pierce pulled her the opposite direction. Laura looked understandably pissed about the whole situation, but Naruto planned on making sure it would be over shortly, "Alright, asshole, give her back!"

Naruto steared his bike towards the van and rammed himself into it. His bike was sturdier than whatever metal the van might have been made out of, that much Naruto could damn well guarantee. So, when he struck the other vehicle, he did so with enough force to send the thing skidding and almost run it off the road. Pierce and every HYDRA agent were nearly thrown out of onto the harsh asphalt below them. There was no other choice but for Pierce to let go of Laura so he could steady himself. Laura was pulled back onto Naruto's motorcycle with ease, not that the whole experience hadn't left her shaken, "Son of a bitch! We are NEVER doing that again! I'm not made for a fucking game of tug of war!"

"Sorry about that," Naruto said, though his eyes were still focused on the van he'd just rescued her from. The man driving it was starting to regain control, and he sure as hell wasn't going to finish if the duo on the motorcycle had anything to say about it, "We've gotta take out the tires on that thing. I wanna lose Pierce as soon as we can."

"Just get me close and I'll take care of the rest."

Behind him, Naruto could hear Laura extending her claws. He grinned, drove them as close to the van as they could get, and just waited. Laura leaned to the side, her adamantium claws gleaming in the sunlight, and stabbed the man in the driver seat before releasing another claw in her foot that she used to slash the tire. The rubber gave way to van's rims underneath, sparking flying from it as scraped against the asphalt. This time when the van started skidding out of control, it had no chance of coming back. Both Naruto and Laura could hear Pierce screaming to the men around him, "You idiots! How hard is it to keep one mutant from slashing your tires?"

That was more or less the response they'd been expecting. What they hadn't been expecting was Pierce's robotic hand to come flying out of the van so it could latch on to the other van behind them. Just before his ride went fully spinning out of control, the wire in Pierce's arm pulled to another. He clung to the moving vehicle with ease, his hair blowing in the wind as the van grew closer to Naruto and Laura. Irritating as it may have been, Naruto couldn't help but be a little impressed, "Damn, he's good."

"You bet your ass he's good," Laura growled. There was no attempt to hide her hatred for the man, "Donald Pierce is the best mutant hunter in the country, maybe even the world. Bastard thinks tracking down people like me is just a fun pastime. When I busted free from HYDRA, he was the first call. Don't let the way his hand looks fool you. It's just a trick to make you think that's the only part of him that isn't human. Trust me, he's got more plenty of other stuff hidden under his skin."

Naruto had no doubt she was correct. It was looking more and more like it was time for Naruto to get in full blown rider form, "Then it's time for him to see what hellfire can do. I'd hold on tight if I were you. This ride's about to get real bumpy!"

Before Laura's eyes, flame engulfed Naruto's skin and his body began to change. She got a front row see to watch as he became the same thing that tore the hell out of the wrecking crew just days earlier. Only this time, it wasn't just his body that changed. His bike began to morph as well, turning from orange to jet black while the wheels literally caught on fire, not that it seemed to do any damage to them. Naruto's chain was burning and at the ready, just waiting to tear through something at any second. The Ghost Rider had officially arrived.

"Oh you have got to fucking with me," Pierce growled. He smacked the driver side window and screamed to the man driving, "Hey! Nobody told me this was the kind of shit we'd be dealing with! I would've brought a whole new game plan if I knew a Goddamned Ghost Rider was gonna be here!"

The HYDRA agent driving the van didn't seem to know what to say, "W-we didn't know either, Mr. Pierce! We swear!"

"Whether you knew or not, me and your boss need to have a discussion about my price and what I've got to work with. Till then, you're on your own."

Before there was any chance to bargain with the man, Pierce let go of the van and used his arm to grapple onto another vehicle. This one was an old, beat up pickup truck that was white and covered in rust. It wouldn't stand out much, which made it that much more perfect. Pierce latched onto it, pull himself to the passenger side door, and smashed in the window. He didn't waste a second before climbing inside and throwing the elderly man who'd been driving it right out his own door while the truck was still moving. That old man's screams were the last thing anyone heard from Pierce's direction before he did a undoubtedly illegal U-turn and vanished in the other direction. With their leader gone, the last remaining action the HYDRA agent in the driver's seat could take was too look forward… and he immediately wished he hadn't.

The blazing chain of the Ghost Rider was coming right for him, and it would have no mercey. It was stretched out far enough to reach the van behind him too, and that was for a reason. In one uninterrupted motion, the chain sliced the vans into two pieces in one horizontal motion. Obviously, if it could cut through the harden metal of a car, soft human flesh was no match for it. Each agent in both vans were sliced apart just like their ride had been. If nothing else, at least they all died instantly.

"Holy shit," Laura muttered as she watched the massacre. Both vans, (or their pieces to be more precise), went flying to left, crashing safely in grassy area where it would harm no one. Naruto had been sure to use as much force as possible with his swing solely to insure the carnage wouldn't go rolling back into the road and hurt an innocent bystander. A hell of display overall, one Laura couldn't stop herself from being impressed by, "I've heard stories about you doing stuff like that, but seeing it up close… damn."

"If there's one thing I'm good at, it's destroying shit. We'd better get off the road before I've gotta tear up anything else. Don't want anyone to get caught in our crossfire."

Laura nodded, "Good call. Let's stop at a diner or something so we can get some food too."

"You just read my mind."

* * *

"Fuck you, Strucker! You can't put any of this on me," Pierce screamed into his phone as paced the empty corn field he'd ditched the truck in, "You wanna blame someone for what just happened? Blame the dumbass you paid to get me information, because they left out a pretty massive detail when they briefed me!"

On the other line, Baron Von Strucker, one of the top men in HYDRA's chain of command, let out a sigh, "Yes-yes, the Ghost Rider. His appearance was unfortunate, but it does not excuse you leaving me men behind to be ripped to shreds to that monster."

"I wasn't leavin' em behind; I was gettin' out while the gettin was good! No one way hell would I have survived a fight with that fiery son of a bitch with the tools I had. Your men were fucked the second they went in there. Me join' em wouldn't done either of us any good."

Strucker couldn't deny his logic, "I suppose not. However, we've already paid you a great deal of money to retrieve X-23. You can't back out on our agreement now."

"Wasn't plannin' on it," Pierce replied, shoving more corn stalks out of his way while he tried to find his way towards the road, "But I expect a nice, juicy bonus for everything I've had to deal with when the dust start to settle. And I'm gonna need better tools to work with if I'm gonna pull this thing off. Think you can handle that much?"

One could almost hear Strucker's smile on the other end of call, "We'd be happy to provide you with whatever you need, Mr. Pierce. Just bring our girl back. Call me once you've made up your mind about what all you'll need, hm?"

The line went dead before Pierce could answer, not that it mattered. Everything that needed to be said already had been. Pierce shoved his phone into his pocket and kept walking until he found his way out into open air. He was in the middle of nowhere, some small farm town that smelled like cow shit, and didn't plan to stay for long. It was time to get back to base to regroup and do what he did best… hunt freaks like X-23. Did the Ghost Rider make that a little harder? Maybe, but Pierce always loved a challenge...

* * *

The diner Naruto and Laura decided to stop at was nothing special. It was an old school sort of place, with all the old school amenities you would expect: gaudy red booths around white tables, a counter top with swiveling stools, an old school jukebox in the corner, and a waitress in an apron who took your order on a pad of paper and poured you cup after cup of coffee. A decent enough place to stop for some foot, even it wasn't exactly a four star restaurant.

Naruto and Laura arrived just before breakfast ended, something they were both plenty happy about, and both order the classic American breakfast. That meant over easy eggs, toast, hashbrowns and bacon. They ate before they spoke, since both of them were too damn starved to put it off any longer. Only once their bellies were nice and full and they had more fresh coffee in front of them did they begin talking strategy.

"Okay… so HYDRA managed to track you down," Naruto said, tapping his finger on his coffee mug, "Any idea how they did it?"

Laura shrugged, "Donald Pierce knows what he's doing, that's all I can say. If I had to guess, I'd say he had some his hacking connections tracking me through camera footage and stuff like that. You get the right hacker, and all you really need is a face and general area. Following somebody from there is a piece of cake."

That concept wasn't as foreign to Naruto as Laura might've thought. He'd had plenty of targets involved in one area or another of the tech industry, in particular when he had to track down some dumbasses who worked for Justin Hammer, and the things these guys could do was utterly insane. If Naruto had to guess, he'd say Laura's assumption was probably correct, which made things a lot more complicated for them, "Well shit… if that's what this is, we're gonna get fucked every time your face hits a camera. I got a guy I can call, goes by Micro, he can probably hook us up with a route that'll avoid any cameras, but it'll make our trip a lot longer."

"Why don't we just kill these assholes? They had the advantage of surprise before, and we still kicked their asses."

"Maybe, but there's the collateral damage to consider. I'm all for giving HYDRA what they deserve, but I don't want any innocent people getting caught in the crossfire."

Laura gave a small nod, "Not a bad point. Plus, now that they know what they're dealing with, they'll probably hit us even harder next time. I'd usually be good making this trip on my own, but if things are gonna get this nasty, a little backup couldn't hurt."

"Agreed," Naruto said, tipping his cup in respect of the girl's skills. He took a small sip of coffee before he asked, "So… what do you wanna do now?"

"Head somewhere safe, call your guy, Micro, and avoid HYDRA and Pierce until they give us no other choice."

Naruto downed the rest of his coffee and slammed his mug on the table. He took out his wallet and took out enough cash for the bill, along with a generous tip, "Sounds like a plan. Let's get on the bike and get the fuck out of here before Pierce shows up again… that reminds me, how did that dickhead get into mutant hunting anyways? Seems like kind a kind of niche line of work, doesn't it?"

The question brought a scowl to Laura's face, "Pierce doesn't think mutants are any better than animals. It's like sport hunting far he's concerned, and we're the most worthy prey there is."

"Well isn't that a nice load of bullshit? You'll get your crack at him one day. Today though, it's time to get regroup and strategize. You ready to go?"

Laura finished her coffee in one gulp and jumped up, "Definitely."

"Then let's ride."

* * *

Finding a hotel proved easy enough. There had been plenty of choices, but in the end Naruto and Laura went with the nicest hotel they could find that was out of view of any cameras. It was roughly as nice as the first one, which was fortunate, considering they were going to have to wait there awhile while Naruto's guy found the safest way for them to get to the Xavier Institute. They'd only gotten in a half day's worth of travel, but they both knew they'd get even less traveling done if they had stop every half an hour to take out some HYDRA agents. This was definitely the better route.

Laura had just stepped out of her ground floor room to get some fresh air a couple of minutes ago. She was leaning against the smooth white wall behind her, watching the random people who passed her by. The ones her eyes lingered on the most were the children clinging to their parent's hands, skipping along like it was the most natural thing in the world. On the other hand there were the teens who looked at their parents like some kind of plague they had to escape from for the sake of their lives, something Laura could never bring herself to look at for long.

"What're you doing out here?" Came the voice of Naruto, startling Laura. She must've jumped, because the next thing Naruto said was, "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

"It's fine. I was off in my own little world."

Naruto nodded and leaned up against the wall next to her, "Yeah, I've been there. Doesn't take much for your mind to just wander off."

"No it doesn't," Laura agreed. She stole a glance over at Naruto and noticed his clothes were wrinkled and his hair was messier than usual. There some lipstick on his collar too, prompting a raised eyebrow from Laura, "Naruto, is there someone in your room with you?"

A blush tint Naruto's cheeks, "Um… well, yeah. I wanted to make sure I took care of my 'problem' one more time before we go underground. Micro said they'll probably start looking for me the same way they're looking for you, so I won't be able to go out in public either. Since there's no Call Girls on the way to New York that I trust, this is my last chance to scratch that itch, ya know?"

"Sure… is there girl in their right now a Call Girl?"

Naruto wasn't used to talking about this kind of thing. He scratched the back of his head and replied, "Yeah, a pretty pricey one. I spend a little extra to make sure I'm getting girls who're doing this kinda stuff willingly and not getting the crap kicked out em' by some asshole pimp."

It felt strange to think it, but Laura found she could respect that, at least to an extent. She couldn't help but notice something though, "It's weird that I didn't hear you screaming this time. You nearly knocked down the walls with that last girl."

"What? Oh, I tried to keep things down for you this time. The thicker walls helped too."

"That true, or was the lady in there just really disappointed with her ride on the Ghost Rider?"

Between the terrible pun and smirk on Laura's face, Naruto could tell she was just giving him shit. This was the first time Naruto could remember her making a proper joke, so he decide to give one right back to her to let assure Laura he liked seeing this side of her, "I'll have you know that I had to fight just to get her to take my money."

"Maybe she just felt bad for you."

Naruto roared with laughter, "Oh, and she brings out the claws! Better tread lightly, or I'll start tearing into your sex life."

It seemed Naruto had forgotten something pretty major about Laura, "Hello, I grew up in a lab and only just escaped. I don't have a sex life."

"Oh… right," Naruto said with a cringe, "Sorry."

Laura shrugged and turned back towards her room, "What's done is done. I'm out now, and I plan on experiencing everything I missed while HYDRA had me locked away."

"Glad to hear that," Naruto grinned. He turned back towards his own room and said, "If you need help with any of it, don't hesitate to ask me."

"I won't," Laura replied before Naruto vanished into his hotel room.

Since the Call Girl hadn't left yet, Laura was pretty sure Naruto intend to spend some more time with her. He'd shown Laura a sort of kindness that she'd never experienced before. Sure, Naruto got around a lot, but it didn't sound like he was ever dishonest about his intentions. More than that, it sounded like he wanted a real relationship but Mephisto's curse made that more than a little difficult. Needing to have sex every couple of days would be a difficult thing for a girl to keep up with, or at least Laura imagined it was…

Actually, Laura found she liked imagining that scenario. In fact, she liked imagining herself in that scenario... she liked it quite a lot. The next thing the girl knew, she disappeared into her room with a blush on her face. She'd find herself unable to resist putting her ear up Naruto's bedroom wall to see if she could her him and his Call Girl. She most certainly could and after discovering that, her instincts would lead her to slip a hand under her pants and discover something else for the first time…

Before her mind was lost to her first taste of carnal pleasure, Laura started to wonder if she and Naruto were the strangest group ever to undertake this kind of trip together.

* * *

The person who could've made the biggest argument against that had just woken up. Said person was Hinata Hyuuga, who currently found herself in a motel bed, much like Laura. She'd been sleeping quite some time, trying to recover from the exhaustion of the last two days or so. What had happened in those passed two days to make her so tired? Well…

* * *

 _Mephisto magically appearing in the bloody scene left behind in these woods might have surprised anyone else, but at that point, there wasn't a whole lot the demon could do that would even make Hinata raise an eyebrow. Right now, she was simply pissed. She'd returned to her normal form, clothing and all thanks to her powers, and that allowed Mephisto to see exactly how pissed. Hinata stomped towards Mephisto, waving an accusing finger in the air, "You've got a lot of shit to to answer for!"_

 _"Doesn't everyone?" Mephisto asked with a shrug._

 _Hinata wasn't amused, "My friends and I nearly died back there! What the hell were thinking just throwing us into a situation like that! We'd been here all of five seconds!"_

 _"I thought it would help you manifest your powers more quickly and that's exactly what it did. You should've seen yourself back there. You're going to be a real natural at this whole Ghost Rider thing."_

 _Ripping Mephisto's head off was a proposition that was becoming more and more tempting to Hinata, "Ghost Rider? What in the hell is that?"_

 _Mephisto hadn't come here for series of long, drawn out explanations. In fact, he'd taken steps to avoid doing exactly that, "You'll get the full story when you get settled in to whatever you decide to stay for the night. I'll leave you a book, or manual I suppose, that'll explain everything you could ever want to know about our new deal. Sificide to say though, you've proved to me here tonight that you'll make quite the capable bounty hunter. A bit overzealous I suppose, but that can fixed."_

 _"Overzealous?" Hinata repeated before Mephisto motioned over to the dead Wendigo. She had almost forgotten "Oh, right. You were hoping I'd get him alive…"_

 _"Don't worry. It was mostly to test your skills, which it did quite nicely. No major loss. Speaking of the Wendigo, what exactly is your dog doing with it?" Mephisto interrupted himself as he pointed to Akamaru. Said dog currently had a bloody muzzle and was noisily chewing on something, only now the girls noticed the Wendigo's left calf was missing._

 _"Akamaru! Spit that out!" Kiba ordered, her companion immediately doing so. She then turned to the others and said, "Sorry, I didn't get a chance to feed him dinner before we left and I usually let him hunt his own food when we're on missions."_

 _Mephisto shrugged, "It makes sense. Dimensional transportation tends to drain an individual. It's more what he's eating that worries me._

 _Any further conversation was halted when the white dog started coughing, blood staining the snow in front of him._

 _Kiba immediately went to help her dog, only for Mephisto to clamp a hand on her shoulder, "Hold on... this could be interesting."_

 _The demon stated, a glimmer of curiosity in his eyes. The group continued to watch, two unwillingly, as Akamaru coughed more and more. Then several cracks were heard as the dog's limbs contorted into unnatural shapes and angles. Slowly paws became hands and the pup's tail disappeared. Kiba couldn't stand to what her companion being twisted like this. She screamed as Mephisto, "He's in pain, you asshole! Do something!"_

 _"Leave him be! Same goes for you, Hinata, there'll be hell to pay if you try and step in."_

 _Kiba wanted to turn around and smack him, but the vice grip he had on her shoulder prevented it. After another 30 seconds of agony, silence reigned. Just as suddenly the beast threw up its head and howled, sounding much like the dead Wendigo, and looking much the part with it's red eyes and white fur, however one key defiance was the short snot percent. Mephisto just smiled as he said, "Congratulations girl, your dog just managed to surprise me for the first time in a millennia."_

 _Hearing the howl Hinata acted on instinct, shifting into her rider form and advancing towards the beast, only for Kiba to throw off Mephisto's hand and step in front of her friend._

 _"Wait!" Kiba pleaded, "He's still Akamaru; I can see it in his eyes!" Slowly she approached the beast, who know hunched on his limbs, and held out a hand. After a moment the new Wendigo gently rubbed his face on Kiba's hand and before licking her palm._

 _"See, he's had control of his instincts all his life; a new body isn't going to change that." Despite the reassurance, Hinata stayed in her rider form, just incase. Seeing her friend still on edge, Kiba turned her attention to the last member of the meeting and demanded, "Change him back."_

 _"And just why would I do that?" he challenged, "My rider has proven herself and now I have an already trained Wendigo for my plans. I have all I need."_

 _"I'll work for you." Kiba offered. At seeing Mephisto raise an eyebrow in interest, she elaborated, "Change him back, let us stick with Hinata and I'll work with you for however long it takes to repay the debt. You can make it so Akamaru can go Wendigo whenever he wants to, so you still get the Wendigo. It's a complete win for you; you give up nothing and gain another contract."_

 _After a brief moment the man snapped his fingers, a contract appearing before Kiba, "You're a hell of a negotiator, girl. Sign on the dotted line."_

 _Without hesitation Kiba cut her thumb and used her blood to sign away her soul, Mephisto's grin only growing as she did so. Once the transaction was complete, Mephisto snapped his fingers and the contract transformed and a ball of white light that hovered in the air. It sored passed Kiba and hit Akamaru. His red eyes turned brown as the white fur recede into his body. In the span of a few seconds where once a beast stood was a naked teenager that looked much like Kiba's henge, only lacking the red tattoos and having white hair with small mohawk and a small gotte._

 _Mephisto didn't seem as shocked by this development as the girls were, only offering a simple question to them, "The Wendigo is a beast born from man, did you honestly expect him to go back to being a dog?" He then turned to Kiba and said, "As for you, well I need to protect my investment, so here's a little freebie that's been locked in your genes for far too long."_

 _Once the man snapped his fingers Kiba a sharp felt pain in her jaws and fingernails. They began to grow, turning into a set of claws and fangs fit for a feral predator. Next, brown fur grew all across her body. Although she felt like passing out, the Inuzuka woman remained conscious, although her clothes were shredded by her new features. Giving the demon a glare, Kiba spat out, "You bastard! I just shaved my legs!"_

 _Mephisto only chuckled in amusement as he turned his back on the group, "Don't worry, you'll be able to change your from just like Akamaru now can. As much fun as this was, I really must be going. You'll find a hotel and a change of clothes on the edge of the woods. You'll find the book I had mentioned before there as well, with some added chapters to explain Kiba's and Akamaru's new gifts. You may need to sneak in if you don't want to give the other guests a private show."_

 _The demon gave one more cheshire grin before vanishing in flash of flame. Kiba wondered aloud, "Is there any way this day could possibly get more batshit insane?"_

 _"Um… Kiba… "Akamaru spoke up for the first time since his transformation. His voice was still bit tentative, as the very act of talking still felt foreign to him. His voice was a deep baritone, "I'm cold..."_

 _Kiba could only facepalm. Her dog was now human, she had some kind of freaky powers she didn't understand, and her 'wife' was some kind of demonic bounty hunter. When life threw that much shit at you, sometimes getting the simplest things done were all you could do, "Come on, Hinata, let's go get Akamaru some pants…"_

* * *

They did eventually get Akamaru his pants, along with clothes for the rest of them. Not the most exciting way to start an adventure, but it was the what they did nonetheless, and an adventure this was no doubt going to turn into. Hinata didn't know what she and her friends had been pulled into, but she knew it was bigger than she'd ever imagined. She didn't know if that frightened or excited, but she knew she couldn't wait to see Naruto once again…


	4. The Road Ahead Pt 2

Hello to all of our wonderful readers, welcome to another chapter of Uzumaki Rider. It's time for us to see how Hinata and her gang is faring on their end of things! We know the jumping from POV to POV between chapters might not be for everyone, but stylistically, we prefer it to trying to mesh both into one chapter, which would render the pace of things down to crawl. Your guy's response has been mostly positive so far, so hopefully that means you don't mind too much. Also…

MERRY CHRISTMAS/HAPPY WHATEVER HOLIDAY YOU CELEBRATE! It's the holiday season, and the authors hope that everyone out there is having a wonderful time! Thank you all so much for reading, and please review. Also, make sure to head over to acw28's page and vote on the poll he's got up.

Chapter Soundtrack- The Immigrant Song: Led Zeppelin

* * *

"You still in bed, Hinata-chan?" Kiba asked as she walked into the hotel room carrying a shopping bag in each hand, "What happened to just taking a quick little nap."

Hinata sighed as Kiba closed the door behind her, "Guess I needed more sleep than I thought. How'd the shopping go?"

"Pretty good. I got some new stuff for all three of us. A new sweatshirt and a couple new bras for you, some t-shirts and jeans for Akamaru, and some more skin tight jeans and low cut tops for me!"

That last remark had Hinata sighing again, "Kiba-chan, you know I'm okay with you wearing whatever you want, but I've gotta know what the deal is with you and all the skimpy outfits you're wearing. With how cold it is out there, I'd expect you to go in the opposite direction."

Kiba shrugged, set her bags down, and walked over to the bed, promptly jumping in so she could lay next to Hinata. She cuddled up to her friend and confided in her, "I've got sweatshirts and nice long coats for when I need them, but I wanna show off my figure whenever I can. I'm gonna grow my hair out longer too, and you're gonna help me find the makeup that'll knock people out of their socks."

"Okay, but why?"

"Because I've never gotten to dress like a girl before," Kiba answered, looking down at her new ensemble. She turned her gaze back to Hinata and said, "Back in the Hidden Leaf, I was terrified every time somebody gave me a sideways glance. I'm finally free from that, and I don't wanna waste it dressing like I did before!"

Hinata shook her head, but smiled and patted Kiba on her head nonetheless, "Alright, I won't fight you on this. If it makes you happy, it makes me happy too."

A nice big bear hug would be Hinata's reward for her kind answer. Kiba squeezed her 'wife' so hard that it was a challenge for her to breath, "That's why I love you, Hinata-chan… well, that and the fact that you're gonna come with me to the mall tomorrow."

"I am?"

Kiba let her go and said, "Yep. You, me and Akamaru are gonna get the last bits of clothes we need before we leave to start searching for Naruto."

"Good idea," Hinata replied, "I wanna bring my A game the first time I see him again."

Based on the way Hinata's face went full on crimson, Kiba had a feeling she hadn't meant to say that last part out loud, "You've really got a one track mind sometimes, Hinata-chan."

Hinata couldn't help but explain herself, "That's not what I meant! Do I still have feelings for Naruto-kun? Of course I do! But this about me wanting to look strong and confident in front of him! Like I said back in the Hidden Leaf, this is the guy whose confidence made me feel like I could really accomplish something one day! His first impression is important to me!"

"I believe you," Kiba told her, then added with a smirk, "But I also believe if he gave you the chance, you'd fuck him the second you could no matter what the situation might be."

"The way I've been feeling lately, you might be right. Those Rider side effects the book talked about are starting to kick in."

There was no need for Kiba to ask what side effects Hinata was referring too. She'd read the book Mephisto had left them just as extensively as Hinata had, and intend to do anything she could help her friend through the, um… interesting set of drawbacks that came with being a Ghost Rider. But that was a bridge they could worry about when they actually reached it. Kiba had already decided there were bigger fish to fry, "We'll get all figured out one way or another. In the meantime, I think we should find a place to train after we go shopping tomorrow, so that we can make sure we're familiar with our powers before we risk getting caught up in whatever's waiting for us out there."

"Agreed," Hinata said. Her mind drifted to the last of their companions, the one who'd gotten his own room but still needed to be checked up on every hour simply to make sure he wasn't getting into any trouble. He was new not only to this new world, but to being human as well, "Couldn't hurt to go over a couple of things with Akamaru too. We haven't had him out in public yet."

Kiba hadn't thought of that, "He's been adjusting pretty quickly I think. There might be a couple of habits we need to help him break, but he was already smarter than your average dog. I don't think he'll make a scene or anything."

That may have been the case, but Hinata wanted to be sure, "We're trying to lay low here, Kiba-chan. Akamaru humping somebody's leg might blow that plan a bit."

"Bit of an exaggeration," Kiba grumbled, "But I see your point. We'll make sure it gets done."

"Good. Once we get all of that taken care of, it's off to find Naruto-kun. I'm hoping he'll shed a little more light on what the hell we've gotten ourselves into with Mephisto."

The name alone was enough to make Kiba growl, "I really don't trust that guy. He's got a nasty endgame coming, I just don't know what it is yet."

Hinata had that same sinking feeling, combined with the guilt that she was the reason they were even there to begin with. That guilt wouldn't get her anywhere on its own though; the only way she could use it was as a launchpad for something that could. She was determined to make sure she, Kiba, and Akamaru all made a difference in this world. No matter what happened, Hinata was going to make her choice mean something. If Mephisto didn't like that, then he'd better be ready to get the hell out of Hinata's way, "We'll deal with Mephisto when the time's right. For now, we'll play along, find Naruto, and get everything straightened out on our end. After that, we start doing things our way."

"You know you're really sexy when you talk like that."

Sweat dropped from Hinata's forehead, "Couldn't let me have that one, could you?"

"Someone's gotta keep you humble."

Hinata couldn't help but laugh. Moment like this really made her grateful Kiba was going on this journey with her. As long as she had people like this walking beside her, Hinata felt as though she could handle anything Mephisto might throw at her.

* * *

Speaking of the demented demon, Mephisto currently found himself in the exact sort of situation Hinata would expect… walking through a room filled with bloody corpses. Said room was an empty crack den on the outskirts of Pittsburgh, and there were roughly half a dozen dead junkies in total. Based on the marks covering their body, the attack had been a frenzied one. Probably a drug deal that had gone bad. Only one person stood out among the crowd, and that was the man who'd died of a gunshot wound. He held a knife in his hand, and across from him was a man with a revolver in his hand. Mephisto had seen enough scenes like this to piece together what had happened.

"Got cocky, didn't you son? Word of advice; always go for something vital when you use a knife. Otherwise, some punk with a gun might have enough strength left to finish you… looks like you found that out the hard way."

Mephisto heard a small grumble from the other side of the room. He wasn't alone in there, but then he already knew that. It was the presence of the man with the black hair, goatee, and red cape that made him come there in the first place. The one and only Dr. Strange was who he'd come to see, but seemed the good doctor wasn't too happy to see him. Standing in the corner with his arms folded over his chest, Strange asked, "What are you doing here, Mephisto?"

"Same thing you're doing here, I suspect," Mephisto replied, ignoring the venom in Strange's voice. The demon lord waved his hand in the direction of gunshot victim, making the knife stir in the dead man's hand. It flew from his lifeless grip and over to Mephisto. Mephisto held it in his hand for a couple of second before tossing it into the air. He created the same fiery rings he had with the Wrecker's crowbar and used them to strip away the facade that this was a normal knife. Underneath was the same otherworldly purple substance the crowbar from before had been made from. With his point made, Mephisto let the knife fall to the ground and said, "Dormammu's back."

"He never really leaves. Just finds new ways to be cause trouble for our world."

"On that, you and I can agree," Mephisto said, taking in all of the carnage around him, "You know that bastard wouldn't try something this bold unless he has something big in mind. My question for you, oh great Sorcerer Supreme, is what exactly that might be."

Strange didn't appreciate the sarcasm, or Mephisto presence in general, "Nothing that concerns you. There's never been a situation where you presence is a good thing."

"Depends on your perspective."

This was the last thing in the world Strange had time for, "Okay, unless you've got something useful for me, why don't you go ahead and leave?"

Mephisto looked Strange up and down, doing his best to read the ever stoic man, "You sure you wanna close the door on me? There aren't many other people who could help track down Dormammu and Mordo."

"What's Mordo got to do with any of this," Strange asked, immediately realizing he'd tipped his hand.

A sinister smile graced Mephisto's face, "Don't even know about Mordo, eh? Maybe you should be the one asking me what's going on."

Strange would never have admitted it out loud, but he welcomed any info Mephisto might've had for him. It was rare the Sorcerer Supreme felt this out of the loop, "You tell me what you know first, and I'll return the favor once you're finished. We both know I'm the only one around here who can be trusted to keep their word."

"I never lie, Strange," Mephisto said, his smile growing, "I'm just selective with what information I feel is relevant. On that note, here's what I've got for you… Dormammu's been giving out weapons from the Dark Dimension in exchange for an oath to spill blood with them. He's trapped and can't give them out in person of course, so he's been having Mordo do it for him. The only reason Dormammu would pull something this ballsy is if he knew he had a real shot at going after you sanctums."

"Sounds about right," Strange admitted, "We've been monitoring the Dark Dimension from all three sanctums. Been noticing far more movement than usual too. There's something odd about it all though; the way Dormammu's been moving his army of Mindless Ones."

Ah, the Mindless Ones, extra-dimensional beings made from rock like material with the shape of a human. Their name said it all. No free will of their own, just beings meant to be controlled by mystical madmen like Dormammu. The idea of him moving was far from a headline in Mephisto's eyes, "So a general's moving his army? If that's the best you've got for me, I got the raw end of this deal."

"It's not that he's moving them, you twisted bastard, it's how he's moving them. The formations, the size of the groups, the locations, none of them line up with how Dormammu usually operates. I've never seen anyone change their strategic style this drastically, ever. Something's not right."

Mephisto rubbed his chin in thought. It was worse than he realized, "Someone as powerful as Dormammu acting that erratic can't end well for us. We need to track down Mordo and get him to tell us what he knows."

That sounded about right to Strange, expect for one key detail, "There's no 'we' in this scenario. Leave this situation to me and the other sorcerers."

"Can't do that, Strange. You clearly can't handle this situation on your own. I'll send some assistance your way as soon as I can get them ready. Until then, you keep on tracking Mordo."

"Don't order me around," Strange said through his teeth, "If you think for a second I would ever answer to a vile, unholy, disgusting piece of-"

Strange was stopped by Mephisto putting a hand to his face, "We need to work together, not start insults at each other. It's been a good pow-wow, but now there's work to be done. I'll be in touch soon, partner, I promise."

A burst of flame consume Mephisto before Strange could rip his head off, something the sorcerer would've loved more than anything right then. The demon lord was gone, and that left Strange with only one thing left to do, "Well, Mordo, looks like it's time for a reunion…"

* * *

Why did it have to be the mall? Of all the places in this new world that Kiba could've taken Hinata, why did have to be the place the combined the two things in the world Hinata hated the most, shopping and large crowds of people? She swore, if she had to try on one more shirt, got bumped into by one more person, or had one more guy whistle at her like she was a fucking dog who'd come on command, someone was gonna die.

"How much longer are we going to be at this, Kiba-chan?" Hinata asked, following with, "We've got enough clothes at this point, don't we?"

Kiba glanced at her friend and rolled her eyes, "You don't even have a shirt for everyday of the week yet. We'll have to stop every three days to wash our clothes if we did it your way."

That might've been true, but the non-stop chattering, gaudy yellow carpet, and sea of clothes that all looked the same to Hinata left her fairly certain that was the preferable situation. It wasn't as though Kiba couldn't just choose something out for her, "You know my size for everything, right? I agreed to keep you company, but I never said I'd do any actual shopping. Just pick something for me."

"The only clothes I'm picking out for you are lingerie, the rest you need to do for yourself," Kiba fried back with a snicker. Hinata turned bright red, just as Kiba had hoped she would, "It's the holidays around here. Lots of good deals on presents that we could both enjoy."

Hinata's embarrassment was interrupted when Akamaru came walking up to them in his knew outfit, a bar of dark blue jeans and sweatshirt with a set of wolf fangs that were designed to look like they'd been spray painted on. Hinata couldn't help but giggle when she saw it, "A little on the nose, don't you think, Akamaru-kun?"

"Wasn't subtle when I was dog, don't plan on starting now."

"He's got a point, Hinata," Kiba replied, nothing immediately the furrowing of her wife's brow, "Yeah, I dropped the suffix, and you should too. We've gotta try and talk like everyone else around here does if we're going to blend in."

Hinata realized Kiba was right and made a note to watch out for things like that in future. Little things like that would make them stand out, and the more they stood out, the better the chance they'd find obstacles their search for Naruto. Keeping a low profile was the safest course of action, no doubt. Unfortunately, that line of logic also lead to Hinata putting more effort in to actually finding some reasonable looking clothes. A double edged sword indeed.

Against her better judgement, Hinata turned towards the exit of the store and said, "Then let's go get me some clothes that'll make me seem like I belong around here. Akamaru already paid for his stuff, right?"

"I think he did," Kiba answered, before turning to where Akamaru was supposed to be, "Akamaru, did you… oh, come on!"

Akamaru had found his way over to a girl roughly his age, who was currently biting her lower lip and giving him the doe-eyes. Kiba headed over to her brother, (that was more accurate thing they could think to call him now that he was human), grabbed him the collar, and proceeded to drag him back over to Hinata. He struggled the whole time naturally, "Hey! What're you doing? She seemed really into me!"

"Yeah, I noticed," Kiba grumbeled. Not only was her little brother turning out to be a bit a flirt in his human form, the girls were absolutely eating it up, "This is the fifth time have to do this today. Getting kinda sick of it, Akamaru. Least this one didn't look ready to shove her hand down your pants…"

If only Hinata could've brushed that off as a joke, "I swear the lovableness he had as a dog is carrying over to him as a human. Back to my original point, did you get all of that paid for, Akamaru?"

"I took care of it," Said a male voice that sent shivers down Hinata's spine, and not in a good way. Her boss had arrived, "Can't have you three looking like shaggy dogs, can I?"

Akamaru raised an eyebrow and asked, "Is he making fun of me? I feel like he's making fun of me."

"It's a joke about you, but I wouldn't say I'm making fun of you," Mephisto replied. That being said, it was too tempting not ruffle the youth's hair and say, "You're learning to talk fast, aren't you boy? And they say old dogs can't learn new tricks."

If it wasn't for Mephisto's split second reaction time, he would've gotten his hand bitten clean off by the snapping jaws of Akamaru. This time, he was sure he was being made fun of, "It's not like I didn't understand people before, asshole! I don't have much to learn!"

Mephisto gave the boy the old deadly glare/wicked grin combo as he said, "You've at least got to learn your manors, boy; I'll tell you that much."

"Enough, both of you," Hinata snapped. The last thing they needed was a brawl in the middle of the mall, "Mephisto, I'm guessing you didn't come here to screw with Akamaru. What do you want?"

"I've got a new job for you three. It's not much more than an errand really, but it'll be good training for when I send you off to investigate Dormammu."

Kiba raised an eyebrow, "And what is this 'errand' exactly?

With a small shrug, Mephisto answered, "Vampire hunting. You're going after a fellow named Morbius."

"Wait, vampires?" Kiba asked, unable to believe her ears, "You guys have vampires around here? Like the ones read about in stories back home? Nasty, undead bloodsuckers?"

Mephisto's amusement was written all over his face, "I'm afraid so. You'll only have deal with one of them though, so don't worry your pretty little head. This particular vampire didn't get his powers thanks to any sort of magic but rather from an experiment gone wrong. He was attempting to cure some rare blood disease or something like that. They actually like to call him 'The Living Vampire' because he's not technically undead."

"Well if he's not magic, then what do you want with him?" Hinata asked. Science didn't seemed like a keen interest of Mephisto's.

Indeed it wasn't, but a powerful creature like Morbius always interested Mephisto, "I think I might be able to cut a deal with him, one along the same lines that I offered to you three. With how nasty things are looking to get, I need to scoop up every minion I can find."

Hinata didn't know what she expected, "There's nothing you love more than finding a turtle on its back, is there?"

"As long as the turtle can be useful to me," Mephisto added in. "We've talked enough for one afternoon, don't you think? Get whatever else you might need and meet me at entrance to the mall. I'll take care of payment, and that goes for everything you'll ever need from here on out."

"Fine, just don't ever call us your 'minions' ever again," Hinata growled.

Mephisto couldn't even muster up the effort for an eye roll, "Whatever floats your boat. Just don't waste too much of my time."

For the second time that day, Mephisto left before someone had the chance to rip his head off. If there was one thing the bastard was good at, it was getting under people's skin. Seeing how stressed the encounter with their boss had made her friend, Kiba tried to lighten the mood. "So you still need some underwear. Do you want plain, cute or sexy?"

"KIBA!" Hinata yelled, clear embarrassed, although Akamaru laughing it seemed everyone was able to relax a little.

* * *

"Son of a bitch, it's cold," Akamaru said, rubbing his hands together to try and keep them warm, "I'm wearing a sweatshirt, a coat, and gloves! How am I still freezing my ass off?"

Kiba patted her little brother on the head and said, "Because it's less than 30 degrees out here and you're still not used to not having fur. Not gonna lie, it's pretty impressive how much snow has fallen in this place since the last time we've been here."

The 'here' Kiba was referring to was the forest she and the rest of her little family had first arrived in, and she couldn't have been more right about the snow. A layer at least four inches thick covered the ground, and the trees around them shimmered with fresh winter snow. Hinata could've spent all day taking it in if it wasn't so damn cold, "This place looks downright beautiful. I'd almost buy Morbius taking this route just for the scenery."

"I hear ya," Kiba replied, the snow crunching under her feet as she walked, "Hopefully we're close to wherever Morbius is camped out. He'd better be right where Mephisto said he'd be."

"He can't move during the day, so I'm guessing Mephisto's intel is still good," Hinata replied. She took a few more steps before Kiba put her arm out and stopped her, "What's up?"

Kiba lifted her head in the air and sniffed before turning to Akamaru, "You smell that?"

After giving a sniff of his own, Akamaru replied, "Yeah, Morbius is close, and it smells like he's not alone."

"Then I'd suggest you get out of any clothes you're worried about ruining," Hinata said. A small smirk graced her face as she said, "Gotta love clothes that'll change on their own, eh?"

"Wipe that grin off your face," Kiba grambeled, removing every piece clothes she wore expect for the skin tight bodysuit. It reached down to her knees, across her elbows, and just below her neck. The trimming was blue and it was made of a black material that was designed to stretch out for when she went full wolf. A little something Mephisto had picked out for Kiba, "Mephisto's an asshole, but this suit isn't half bad. How's yours, Akamaru?"

Akamaru's setup was mostly the same, with the exceptions that trimming was red and all he had were the pants. The latter fact left him shivering where he stood, "Ask me again when we're in some decent whether! Let's fucking change already, huh?"

There were no objections. Hinata took a deep breath and focused her mind, just as Mephisto's book had taught her. Purple flame erupted all over her body, turning her into the same figure she'd first become in those same woods a few nights prior. Kiba and Akamaru would follow right after, turning into their brown wolf and white wendigo forms respectively. Unlike last time, the Inuzuka duo were quite grateful to have nice, warm fur growing all over their body.

"Huh… two giant, hairy monsters and flaming, purple demon hunter," Hinata said, standing in between her two friends, "Yeah, that looks about right."

"I think anybody would shit themselves if they saw this team coming," Kiba remarked before immediately throwing her hands over her mouth. She hadn't been expecting her transformation to come with a voice that was much deeper and more gravely, "Holy shit, I should terrifying… was my voice like this the first time I changed?"

Hinata nodded, "Yeah, pretty much. You were just too overwhelmed to notice."

"You sound pretty badass to me," Akamaru replied, finding the exact same thing had happened to his voice as well. He reached up touched his furry throat, saying with a chuckle, "Gonna take me awhile to get used to this… but I like it."

Akamaru held out his knuckle to Kiba for a fist bump. Kiba rolled her eyes, but smiled and returned the gesture all the same. As soon as they were finished, Hinata pulled out her chain, careful not to ignite it this time, "Remember, Mephisto wants Morbius alive. We knock him out, tie him up, and wait for Mephisto to come scoop him up. Got it?"

Both of Hinata's teammates nodded, so she turned towards the direction of Morbius, took one last deep breath, and started running. It was officially vampire hunting time.

* * *

Morbius had never despised the cold the way most people did, at least not sense he'd become a child of the night. Perhaps it's because his body was already cold and stiff like a corpse, or maybe it was the thin layer of fur the accident had left him with. Either way, camping in the cold was just fine by him. Thriving in the places others refused to go was what Morbius did best.

The vampire stirred in the makeshift bed inside his tent, his eyes opening ever so slightly. He could see through the blue material above his head that it wasn't completely dark yet, but the sun wasn't directly shining on them. Morbius cleared his throat and called to someone outside in his Eastern European accent, "How's it looking out there? Feral? You here?"

"Yeah, I'm here," Answered a feminine voice with just a touch of gravel. "It's all shaded outside. You should be safe to come out. Just make sure you don't move too far."

With a groan, Morbius sat up and cracked his neck. He pushed his way out of the tent and carefully stepped outside, just in case his companion had been lying to him. She hadn't; the small clearing they'd positioned themselves in was entirely in the shade. Morbius looked to Feral, a mutant who was born with light brown fur, claws, and fangs, making her look like a short of human-feline hybrid. Her hair, which was wild and unkempt, was the same color with the occasional white streak, and she wore a purple leotard to cover herself. Feral was sitting in front of small fire she'd built, her eyes nowhere close to Morbius direction.

"Wouldn't kill you to greet me," Morbius told her. She still didn't look at him, "Or not… I suppose I'm not paying for your company."

"Glad you understand," Feral growled, "It was the smell that woke you up, wasn't it?"

Morbius glanced around before he replied, "That and the noise, yes. We've got roughly thirty seconds before our intruders strike. You're ready?"

The mutant kicked some snow into the fire to extinguish it, stood up, and turned to Morbius. His white fur blended in with the snow, although the dark blue hair and black ensemble still stood out, not mention his piercing red eyes. Feral had to fight not to feel too uncomfortable around him. Still, a customer was a customer, and really, who was she to judge? She asked Morbius, "You paid me, didn't you?"

"That I did," Morbius answered. The intruders were now less than five seconds away, "Let us see what fools have come calling upon us."

Something came whizzing through the air so fast that Morbius almost didn't have time to notice it… almost. His hand shot up in the direction the sound was coming from and reacted just in time to catch the chain that was hurtling towards him. It wrapped around the vampire's hand several times after it hit and stung like hell, but that was the worst of it. Nonetheless, the fight had been initiated, and Morbius was ready to retaliate.

He yanked the chain with his might and called out, "You want a fight? Fine! You shall see the might of Morbius, the Living Vampire!"

* * *

As Hinata flew through the air, the harsh winter air whipping her in the face, she started to wonder if she should've thought her plan out just a bit more. She thought the element of surprise and one swing of her chain would end this fight in no time, but Morbius had upended that plan completely. Thankfully, Hinata had friends who were more than ready to back her up. Kiba was on all fours chasing after her, a new game plan already formulated in her head, "Hinata, give that asshole something that'll distract him! Akamaru, you handle whoever the other weirdo is! Got it?"

"I'm on it," Akamaru called back, tackling Feral, who'd just gotten onto all fours to prepare for a pounce. Needless to say, she hadn't expect him to be that fast, "Let's go, bitch!"

The two of them went rolling off into their own fight, leaving Hinata and Kiba to deal with Morbius. Hinata was upon the vampire, but she'd come prepared. Per Kiba's suggestion, she'd created a ball of purple flame in her hand and was preparing to shove into her opponent's chest. Morbius was once again quick to deflect the attack before it could hit, ducking under it at superhuman speed and then grabbing Hinata's wrist so she couldn't try anything again. He had to admit though, it was a good effort, "That's some powerful magic, my dear. What you lack in skill, you make up for in raw power and spitfire."

"How do you like this spitfire?" Kiba screamed. She reached Morbius and skidded in the snow to sweep him by the legs. The vampire was too focused on Hinata to react this time, making it easy for Kiba to knock his feet out from under him and send him face first onto the ground. Hinata was able to break free, much to her partner's joy, "That's more like it! We'll kick this guys ass together!"

"I highly doubt that," Morbius said, leaping up off the ground so quickly neither of his foes could comprehend it. He smashed his palm into both of their chest's, sending them hurdling into a large tree. This was escalating too quickly for his liking, "I have no quarrel with the two of you. Turn back so we may forget this entire incident."

Kiba got up, dug her clawed hands into the tree bark behind her, and pushed off to get all the moment she could as pounced towards Morbius, "Fuck you!"

Rather than respond, Morbius closed his eyes. He calmed himself as best he could and waited until he felt the perfect moment. In an instant, Morbius opened his eyes and leapt to the left, jetting his arm out to close-line Kiba as she dove towards him. Morbius stopped her dead in her tracked and slammed her onto the ground below. Kiba yelped in pain, prompting Hinata to stand up and cry out, "Leave her alone!"

She made another fireball in her hand, but the purple flame never got anywhere close to it's target. Morbius was upon her with his hand around her throat before she could do much of anything. Hinata couldn't have summed things up any better than Morbius was about to, "Seems you ladies have bit off more than you can chew…"

* * *

Things were faring far better for Akamaru, though that may have had something to do with him having a much less threatening opponent. While Farel was a more than solid fighter, Morbius had hired her to scope out the terrain and find the safest route for him to travel through. Her skill, speed, and strategy were all top notch, but she didn't have much of an answer for raw strength, which was what she dealing with now, and not dealing with it all that well either.

"I swear I'm gonna rip your nuts off and feed them to you, you giant pain in the ass," Feral growled as she made another run at Akamaru. She bared her claws and leapt for him, intent on slashing his throat. Akamaru pulled his arm back and smacked her away before she ever got the chance, sending Feral skidding several feet away. Another item on the list of ways he was pissing her off, "You think you're still winning? You might be stronger, but I'd put my brain up against yours any day of the week!"

"This is a fight, not a quiz-HEY!"

Feral had grabbed a handful of snow and thrown it in Akamaru's eyes. She leapt onto his chest, using one claw to latch onto him while she raised up her other to take another shot at his throat. Out of pure instinct, Akamaru threw his head forward and headbutted Feral, knocking off from his chest and him enough time to rub the snow from his eyes. It was like Akamaru was just trying to vex Feral now, "Oh-ho, when I get my hands on you-"

Now it was Akamaru's turn to interrupt. He slashed at Feral while she was still on the ground and she was only able to roll out of the way by a millisecond. One of his claws caught her costume and tore it, particularly in the chest area. Feral jumped up to find she mostly… exposed, and Akamaru couldn't help but notice, "W-woah! Lady, your ti-er, your breasts!"

"Yeah, I know! So what? You're acting like you've never seen a pair of boobs before," Feral snapped. The way Akamaru averted his gaze made Feral realize something, something that could help her win this fight, "You haven't, have you? Not in person at least. Hmph… you wanna see em' up close?"

Akamaru almost blurted out 'hell yes,' but knew this might be a trap. Still, what a tempting thought, "Moment I come over there, you'll try and gut me… unless I had a guarantee."

"A guarantee?" Feral laughed. He wasn't smart enough to think up anything that would actually keep him safe. However, he might be stupid enough think up something he thought was a guarantee that would give Feral the opening she needed to kill him, "What did you have in mind?"

With careful steps, Akamaru approached Feral. He put steak knife sized claw up to her throat with just enough pressure to keep from killing her. Then, much to Feral's shock, Akamaru began to shrink down to his human form, his thumb still pressed tight to her throat, even tighter than before. Akamaru whispered into Feral's ear, "I can get this hand back up to normal size faster than you'd believe. Try anything, and I'll puncture you windpipe in heartbeat. Got it?"

Feral couldn't deny, that was a better plan than she'd been expect. The young man's age helped explain why he'd never seen a pair of breasts before, and it meant he might be easy to distract if she got his mind hazey of enough. If worse came to worst, she could at least drain him of any stamina he might have left. Luckily, Akamaru was pretty cute too. This would be child's play for Farel, "I got it, big guy. Now come on; don't be shy!"

* * *

"Pain in… every part… of my body," Hinata groaned, trying to stand up only to feel a vampire's fist buried into her stomach. She feel to the ground, the wind knocked clean out of her, "Mother… fucker."

Morbius stood over the Ghost Rider, shaking his head, "It would be a shame to snuff creatures as wonderful as yourself. Please, I beg of you, end this pointless exchange."

If it were only that simple. Hinata caught her breath and told her foe, "No can do. We really don't have any other option but to bring you in. If we could just kill you outright, this thing would be over already!"

"But you cannot, so your fiery chain and Penance Stare are of no use to you," Morbius reminded her. Hinata's eyes widen at his knowledge of her powers, "Surprise, my young friend? I know of the Riders like you. The ones I've met tend to be far more skilled though. You are a newborn Rider, yes?"

"What she is is none of your concern," Kiba screamed, flying through the air towards Morbius. He rotated on his feet and caught her by the throat, squeezing her so hard she couldn't breath, "Gah! I-ah! I can't-"

She struggled, which only made Morbius squeeze harder, "I hope you were trying to distract me. Can't imagine any other reason you'd try an attack that has failed so many times"

Hinata's hand instantly shot up to protect Kiba. She shot a massive stream of purple flame from her hand right at Morbius. The angle of it sent him flying into a tall tree near by, right up towards the leafs and branches. It wasn't long before Hinata ran out of steam and Morbius came crashing to the ground below, a fall that was about 20 feet in total. Everything around him shook like an earthquake when Morbius landed, kicking up all kinds of fluffy white powder, making it impossible to see him

When that powder finished dancing in the air and settled on the ground, the vampire's silhouette became visible, and it was walking right for Hinata, "Oh we are so screwed."

"I've played enough of these games," Morbius screamed, "Away with both of you!"

It would've been away with both of them, had it not been for one small little detail. The leafs Hinata had shot Morbius into had caught flame thanks the attack, quickly spreading and weakening the surrounding branches. A glorious bundle of blazing purple foliage broke free from the rest, falling to the snow below where it promptly died out due to a lack of any reachable brush on the ground to keep feeding it. More importantly though, these events had created a massive hole in the tree line above, a whole that now let in a great big circle of… sunlight!

The rays of light struck Morbius directly, sending a pain like no other coursing through his body, "No! Not the sun! Aaahhh!"

"Why didn't we think of this sooner?" Kiba asked, suddenly feeling pretty foolish for not doing this from the start, "We had his weakness literally hanging above our heads! I'll knock him out, you tie him up!"

Kiba was off and running towards her target before Hinata could say anything. Really, it didn't matter. Hinata fully support her companion's plan. The wolf-girl reached Morbius in no time, and decided the best course of action would be to work out her frustrations on the vampire's head. She struck the vampire once in the chin, once in the cheek, and once in the temple, a combo that, in combinations with his entire body being seared and sizzled in the sun, left Morbius utterly unconscious. With him unable to struggle, Hinata rushed over and wrapped her chain around the vampire as tight as she could, then used her hands to the weld the two ends of the chain together in a seal that was stronger than any knot in the world. Thanks to her reading, Hinata knew the chain would come back to her in perfect condition when she decided to summon it again.

"We did it," Kiba cheered, "We won! Woohoo! We kicked fucking ass, baby!"

Hinata didn't quite see it that way. She pulled Morbius out of the sunlight to keep him alive before reminding Kiba, " If those leafs hadn't caught on fire, we'd be dead right now. We got lucky, simple as that."

"You guys got lucky too?" Asked the voice of Akamaru, who was walking over to the girl's in human form with a mostly naked Feral in his arms. Not exactly the something they'd been expecting, "What are the odds?"

Neither girl dared to speak at first. Sweat dropped from both their foreheads as his sister dared to ask, "Akamaru… did you fuck the woman you were supposed to be fighting?"

Akamaru gave a sheepish grin, "Yeah, but in my defense, she came on to me! I thought it was a trap at first, and I'm still pretty sure that's what it started as, but we were both really into it by the time we were done. Isn't that right, Feral?"

"So… good," Feral managed to whimper out. She was tired, but there was a goofy grin on her face as well, "He supposed to run out of stamina eventually… but he didn't. He just kept going and going and going. Can't tell you the last time I came, he kept up with me good. I actually feel satisfied for fuck's sake."

"And I finally got laid as a human," Akamaru said with pride. He glanced down at the older woman and boasted, "Guess the cougars can't get enough of me."

Next thing Akamaru knew, he had a face full of snow thanks to his big sister. Then another… and another… and another. Kiba had gone back into her human form, and was throwing as many snowballs as she make directly at her brother's face, "Bad Akamaru! Stop thinking with your dick!"

Hinata let it go on just long enough to get her jollys, then grabbed Kiba's arm, "That's enough. Let's just get Morbius back to Mephisto before he decides to wake up. We should at least start acting like we know what we're doing. It's not like Naruto's out there worried about weird shit like this…"

* * *

Naruto was literally shaking. He stood in the hotel shower, the water turned to the coldest setting he could manage, while his entire body shook. It had been three days since he and Laura had went underground for their journey to the Xavier Institute, and in that time Naruto hadn't gotten anything close to a proper release. Now he was literally itching for some human contact, but the situation left him utterly unable to receive any. Worse still, the cold shower had proven completely useless.

"Should've known that was coming," Naruto grumbled as he walked out of the hotel bathroom wearing nothing but a towel, "Guess it's another night of using my fucking hand… GAAAAGGGHHH! I FEEL LIKE I'M GOING CRAZY!"

Falling back onto his bed, one virtually exactly the same as the one he'd slept the first night of travel, Naruto groaned and racked his brain trying to think up some kind of way to find a woman he could spend the night with. The desk clerk at the hotel? No, she was married, and Naruto would have to take of his hood in a lobby that looked like it might have cameras. Another person staying here? Nah, it wasn't like Naruto could just go around knocking on doors trying to put moves on people. Cleaning lady maybe? Yeah, like she'd be around at this time of night and just randomly be up a roll in the sack.

Just when Naruto was ready to give up all hope, he heard a knock at the door. With nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist, he walked over the door and took a look through the peephole at who was there. It was Laura, and the look on her face suggested it was important. Naruto opened the door and motioned for her to come in, trying not to notice how good she smelled, "H-hey Laura. Come on in. I should probably warn you, I'm-"

"Hornier than a dog in heat? Yeah, I heard."

Naruto blushed and closed the door. Laura was only wearing a pair of athletic shorts and a sports bra. Not exactly lingerie, but she the way she pulled it off left Naruto weak in the knees, "I was gonna say just wearing a towel… b-but yeah, t-that too."

She'd noticed the towel. Oh lord, how she'd noticed. Laura took in Naruto's body, his tight abs, exocit whiskers, and charming boyish smile, and fought with herself internally. It took all the courage she could muster to blurt out at him, "Get on the bed!"

"Um… what?"

"Get on the bed," Laura repeated, "I… I wanna sleep with you."

Naruto couldn't believe his own ears, "Wait, you mean you wanna have sex?" The young lady nodded, "Laura, you don't have to do that. I'll be just fine-"

"I'm not doing it for you," Laura snapped, blushing worse than Naruto now, "I wanna know what sex is like, okay? Those girls you've been with, they um, well… they make it sound like a lot of fun."

Not exactly the sort of compliment Naruto had been expecting to get that night, "Oh. O-okay, I guess that makes sense. Not that I wouldn't love that, and I do mean love," Naruto began, trying not to get to excited from the very thought of it, "But you know you don't have to do it with me, right? A girl like you could find any guy you wanted."

Laura stopped blushing and started smiling. Here Naruto was, being offered reprieve from some genuine pain, and that's the first thing out of his mouth, "You're over there, shaking like a puppy in the rain, and you're worried about me. Come here, Naruto."

"S-sure thing," Naruto said. He had no idea what to expect as he walked over to Laura. Imagine his shock she grabbed his towel and ripped it off from her, "Hey!"

"Shh, I'm giving you want you want," Laura whispered, leaning into Naruto's ear. Without fear, she pulled her sports bra up over her head and tossed it aside, followed by removing her shorts. Every inch of her smooth skin was visible for Naruto to see, and Laura could tell it thrilled him. His 'excitement' was on full display, and knowing that she was responsible made Laura feel that much more beautiful, "Looks like we're even. I'm gonna tell you a secret, Naruto. I've been thinking about you at night, when I'm all alone. It… it makes me feel good, and I wanna make you feel good too. So what do you say?"

It was official; the dam broke. Naruto scooped Laura up in his arms and kissed her, passion surging through both of their bodies. They tumbled back onto the bed, where Naruto regained just enough of his focus to break the kiss and warn his lover, "Laura, you're first time… it's gonna hurt a bit, okay? But I promise I'll go slow and that it'll feel really good before you know it, alright?"

Laura nodded. She already knew that, but his concern was sweet. Both lover returned their attention to one another, beginning a dance that would continue well into the night. At this particular dance, Laura would prove herself to be a natural, and Naruto would be the best partner she ever could've hoped for.


	5. Blood, Sweat, and Tears Pt 1

Welcome back ladies and gentlemen, to another hopefully exciting chapter of Uzumaki Rider! Seems you guys were pretty happy to see Naruto and Laura together in the last chapter, something we were glad you enjoyed. This chapter will naturally pick up the morning after, moving onto the remainder of their journey to Xavier Institute. What sort of perils might they face along the way? Some of them you can probably guess, but you'll have to read to be sure! So, without further ado, let's get on with our story! Thank you all so much for reading and please review.

Chapter Soundtrack - Breakout: Foo Fighters

* * *

Utter bliss. Those were the only words Naruto could think of to describe how he felt in this moment. The morning sun had just begun to peak through the bottom of the hotel curtains, he was warm and comfortable under his hotel sheets, and lying next to him was a beautiful woman he'd shared an incredible night with. His mind was buzzing with all sorts of thoughts, the sort that he didn't feel comfortable repeating out loud. Thoughts about how much he enjoyed being with Laura on more than just a physical level. In a rare turn of events, Naruto felt as though he was doing more than fulfilling the incessant needs Mephisto had burdened him with. Naruto had spent time with Laura, gotten to know her, connected with her, and only then did he get to be with her. Something about the whole process made the final product feel that much more satisfying. She felt better than any girl he'd ever been with before; even She-Hulk.

Laura began to stir next to Naruto as he gazed at her soft features. Her eyes slowly opened and she felt her lover's arm wrapped around her. She smiled and turned to Naruto, "Good morning."

"Good morning to you."

She smiled and gave him a small kiss. Laura felt the sun on her face as she pulled away and suddenly realized, "The alarm didn't go off."

"That's on me," Naruto admitted, "You looked so peaceful there; last thing I wanted to do was wake you."

It was impossible to be angry with him. Laura hadn't gotten this much sleep in days, "Guess it doesn't really matter when we leave."

Naruto liked the sound of that, "Oh really? Then I think a repeat performance might be in order."

"You just read my mind, stud," Laura replied. She sat up, threw her leg over Naruto's body, and began to straddle him all in one motion. Leaning down, she whispered into his ear, "I'm still new at all this. I think a little more practice will help me straighten some things out."

"Laura, keeping up with me last night was a feat all on its own," Naruto showered the girl with praise. They began to kiss with just a bit more passion than she had a few moments ago. It was meant to lead to something more, but Naruto pulled away, intent on getting something out of the way first, "About last night… someone's first time is a really big deal, especially for a person like you who had to wait so long for it. You deciding to share with me made it really… I don't know… special. It's the kind of thing I'm taking with me to my grave. Do you get what I'm saying?"

The more Naruto spoke, the more Laura could feel a blush growing on her face. Naruto had been with a lot of women, but the way he was talking about her, whoboy. Laura didn't respond with words, but by pressing her lips back onto his, charged with every ounce of emotion she felt at that moment. She really couldn't have been happier with the man she got to ride with on this little trip…

* * *

Mordo had never exactly been a model sorcerer. He'd shown doubts from his earliest days in training, and when he finally turned and revolted against his brothers and sisters, it came as no surprise, not even to his dear friend, Dr. Strange. The two had grown somewhat close during their training under the Ancient One, but apparently not close enough to stop Mordo from siding with madmen like Dormammu.

Dr. Strange was sitting by himself in his street clothes, cacky pants with a white dress shirt and overcoat, at small cafe in New York City, waiting for the man he'd once called his ally to show up. It was an ordinary cafe, with modern glass tables and a black and white decor designed to look as a appealing to the eye and inoffensive as possible. Strange sipped on his coffee while he waited, occasionally glancing at the people around him eating their breakfast. At a table not to far from his own, Strange could see a young surgeon, stuffing his face with as much food as he could in the shortest amount of time. He was probably getting ready for another late night at a hospital, just starting to pay off student loans that had cost him God only knew how much…

"Feeling nostalgic, Strange?"

The voice of Baron Mordo snapped Strange back into reality. He turned to see his old friend, who'd also come in his street clothes. He had jet black hair, a goatee, and wore black suit suit a emerald green tie, all of which was perfectly maintained. Mordo sat down across from his Strange, who addressed him immediately, "Mordo, you actually showed up."

"You made it sound urgent. Didn't want to disappoint you. For the record, you didn't answer my original question."

Strange sighed, took another sip of his coffee, and replied, "I miss operating room sometimes, but I'm still helping people where I can."

That was a sentimental idea that Mordo had little time for, "Still wasting your powers to save ants and boost your precious ego, hm? What a pity. If you would just toss aside the hypocritical malarkey that the Ancient One loved to spout, you could accomplish great things. All the sorcerers want is to protect their own power. Think about what men such as you and I-"

"I didn't come here to listen to you to go off on a cliched 'bad-guy rant'," Strange interrupted. Mordo scowled at him, but he continued nonetheless, "I came here because I know what you and Dormammu are trying to do. I thought you learned your lesson about working for that psychopath, but apparently it's true what they say about old habits dying hard."

"Dormammu can offer me power you and your friends can only dream of. It's nothing personal, just the path that best suits me… though I must admit, I do have my reservations this time around."

That was a phrase you didn't hear from Mordo often. Strange needed to dig a bit deeper on this one, "Something in Dormammu's new plan you're not too fond of.?

Mordo hesitated before giving a brief nod, "There's a particular person he's become obsessed with, and some spells he's been having me look into that I simply can't wrap my head around. His behavior in general is a massive deviation from what I'm used to."

"Funny, that's the same thing Mephisto and I have been talking about," Strange told his old friend. He knew the demon's name would get Mordo's attention, "That's right, this whole thing has got me nervous enough to talk HIM, and it seems like we're all saying the same thing, Mordo. We need to stop Dormammu before this whole thing gets out of hand. You know it, I know, and Mephisto even knows it! You need to work with us, for everyone's sake!"

Quite the rousing speech, but one that Mordo didn't respond to for quite some time. It seemed his time toying with the dark side of magic had left him hesitant to help Strange even in a situation this dire. Luckily, his hesitation didn't go so far as to make him stupid. He waved down a nearby waitress as he told Strange, "I'll tell you everything I know and stop assisting Dormammu, but that's all I'll guarantee to for now. Just need a cup of coffee before we begin... "

* * *

"Hope you're almost ready for this trip to be over," Naruto called from the front of his motorcycle. Laura sat behind him with her arm wrapped him as usual, her hair blowing in the wind despite the helmet she wore. It was hard to hear Naruto through the over the sound of his bike's engine, "Look just up ahead. You're gonna like what you see."

Laura did as she'd been asked and peered over her lover's shoulder, looking passed the long road before them to see something just barley in her line sight. They'd been on the road for hours, having finally passed into New York so they could make their way to Westchester, the home of the Xavier Institute. It made sense then that the something she could just barely see was a gate, surrounded by trees, with the top floor of mansion just peeking over them. The sight of it made Laura's heart nearly jump out of her chest, "The X-Mansion! Holy shit, we actually made it!"

"Told you I could get you hear, didn't I?" Naruto asked with his foxy grin. He loved seeing Laura so excited, "Let me do the talking when we get to the gate. They know me, even if they don't always like me. I should be able to… to…"

Why exactly Naruto had begun to trail off, Laura had no idea, and made her more than a little nervous, "Um, Naruto?"

Naruto reacted, but not to his name being called. He let go of the motorcycle handles, spun himself around so he sitting sideways on the right side of his bike, and grabbed Laura before pushing both her and himself off the vehicle, screaming as he did, "Hit the deck!"

"What the hell are you-" Laura began to ask, but she'd never get the chance to finish. Something she couldn't see came hurling towards the motorcycle before she could, and it struck Naruto's bike in one hell of a glorious explosion. The whole thing was in pieces by the time she and Naruto landed, a landing that hurt like hell Laura might add. She couldn't decide if she was more pissed or confused, "Fuck me! I think I broke a rib! Agh… you're lucky I have a healing factor!"

"Yes, yes he is," Called a sinister southern drawl that both heroes recognized right away. From through the smoke and fire created by Naruto's bike, they could see a figure making his towards them. In his robotic hand was a military graded guided missile launcher with four barrels and the HYDRA insignia on it, and on his face was an excited grin. Donald Pierce had found them, "Hello there X-23, Ghost Rider! It is so wonderful to see you two again! Me and the boys have been waitin' a long time for you two to come around…"

Laura pushed herself up off the ground, her claws out and ready to tear some assholes apart, "The boys? You brought me some company to rip into?"

Behind Pierce, nearly a dozen more silhouettes became visible, the vast majority of which revealed themselves to be heavily armed HYDRA agents. One, however, stood out among the crowd. It was a figure in a with a black cloak over his face that stretched all the way down to his feet. Underneath it was what looked to be black combat armor, with a set of silver boots and gloves with a matching belt. The figure, who appeared to be male, raised his right hand in the air and pointed it at Laura. His voice was gravely and commanding, "If there's going to be any ripping today, it'll be done by me!"

"Ah crap," Naruto grumbled as he leapt up onto his feet, immediately triggering his Ghost Rider transformation. He recognized the hooded figure, and wasn't too pleased to him, "HYDRA went and busted you out too, eh Williams?"

As Naruto asked his question, the figure's hand began to transform. It seemed Pierce wasn't the only one with robotic limbs, as the figure's palm and fingers disassembled and promptly reassembled themselves into a the blade of a scythe. This was a blade of reaper, "If you're going to address me, Ghost Rider, do it properly. I've more than earned the right to be called Grim Reaper."

The Grim Reaper was a mercenary who worked for HYDRA, but was once known as Eric Williams, a mid-level criminal in New York City who'd agreed to participate in an experiment being done by HYDRA scientist in order to get his 'clean as a white shirt on a Sunday' brother, Simon, out a jam. Now he was HYDRA's reaper, with a weapon that concealed all kinds of kinds of wonderfully wicked surprises. Said surprises would soon be used on the foes in front of him, not that it seemed to concern them too much. Laura in particular looked less than impressed, "The Grim Reaper? You look like a trick-or-treater, not a deadly mercenary."

"Seems you've inherited you're father's overconfidence," The Grim Reaper replied. His voice remained even, "Pierce, would you mind if I took first crack at her?"

"Be my guest. Just don't underestimate the bitch."

Naruto and Laura finally saw the first proper show of emotion from the Grim Reaper… he was smirking, "Wouldn't dream of it."

The HYDRA agent dove towards Laura, who did immediately backflipped to avoid him. Naruto was ready to jump in and assist her, but the sound of a dozen safeties being clicked off killed any chance of that. He whipped out his chain and ignited it, staring down the squadron that was ready to light him. These guys didn't scare him, but they had irritated him, and that may have been worse, "You really think bullets are gonna be enough to stop me?"

"Not really," Pierce admitted with a smirk. He lifted the missile launcher back onto his shoulder and put his finger by the trigger, "But this might be."

A second missile came flying out of another barrell on the launcher, this one headed straight for Naruto. The Ghost Rider rolled his eyes, (or eye sockets to be more accurate), and slid his chain across his glove until he got just the right amount of slack. He swung that slack at missile, but not to destroy it. No, he'd angled it in just way so it so the chain wrapped around the missile, allowing him to give it a yank and change the projectile's trajectory. Pierce figured out what was coming there way just in time to call out, "Scatter!"

The HYDRA agents lowered their weapons and ran in all different directions just as Naruto swung the chain, and by extension the missle, right for them. He aimed for the spot that was roughly in the middle of the scattering men, slamming the missile onto the ground and creating a good sized explosion. Every one of the Ghost Rider's foes was sent flying back, all them landing on the harsh road beneath them. There were likely some bruises and contusions,bput considering how deadly Naruto's opening moves had been in the past, this one was fairly forgiving.

"Consider that a warning shot," The Ghost Rider growled, "You all turn around right now, and I'll let your run on back to Strucker with your tail between your legs. The only alternative is death. Not trying to scare you, just giving you the facts!"

"Just giving us the facts?" Pierce repeated, standing up the quicker than any of his men, "Well then I oughta return the favor. I got a couple of upgrades before I came here. Let me show ya one!"

Pierce's robotic hand jetted out in Naruto's direction and shot off from the mercenary's arm. This time though, there was no wire connecting back to his arm. It was being propelled by what looked to be some kind of purple colored, high powered sonic wave. The hand reached the Ghost Rider and latched on, transferring the power of those waves right onto him. Whatever it was, it tore through Naruto's body and put him in a fair amount of pain. Nothing he hadn't felt before, but enough to get his attention for sure. Naruto let out a small scream, "Son of a bitch! What is this?"

The hand let go of Naruto and flew back over to Pierce's arm like it was being magnetically pulled. With his limb reattached, Pierce was more than happy to answer his foe's qeustion, "Vibrainum, motherucker! A little something I had modeled after the same tech General Klaw's used for his sonic emitter. It ain't anywhere near as powerful as his, and I can't keep it going half as long, but it seems like it's enough to get under your skin, Ghost Rider."

"Vibranium, huh? Well that explains it," Naruto grumbled as he clutched his sore skull. Vibranium was quite possibly the strongest metal in the world, thanks to its ability to absorb kinetic energy and then use the energy to strengthen its molecular bonds, and could emit extremely powerful sonic waves if used properly. General Klaw had actually crossed Naruto's path before this, and the Ghost Rider learned the hard way that a viburnum strike at full blast was no joke. Like Pierce had said, his wasn't anywhere near as strong as Klaw's, but that didn't matter. There was enough power to it to complicate things for Naruto, "You always find new ways to make people's lives hard, don't you, Pierce?"

Pierce took it as a genuine compliment, "It's my gift. That and tracking mutants, anyways."

The latter was actually something Naruto had been meaning to ask about, "Speaking of which, how'd you manage to find us?"

"Oh please! Any jackass could see that girl was cut from the same cloth as Wolverine," Pierce boasted. He motioned over the X-Mansion and said, "There was no way that girl was going anywhere but to see her daddy! When I found out you two went underground, I knew the only option I had left was to wait at your final destination. So here we are, with me about to kick the hell out of a Ghost Rider and take that bitch back to HYDRA where she belongs."

Naruto almost wanted to laugh, "You know what all the people who talk to me the way you do have in common? They're all burning in the fires of hell! Get ready, cause you're about to pay for every mutant you've ever hunted! I'm collecting on your sins, Pierce! Let's do this!"

* * *

"It seems your skill far exceeds what we ever dreamed you might be capable of," The Grim Reaper praised Laura as he took another swing at her. His foe put her claws out in front of her in an 'X' shape to catch the blow. She had no trouble stopping the scythe, another fact that impressed the Reaper, "You truly are a testament to what the scientists of HYDRA are capable of."

Laura extended the claw in her foot and gave swift kick aimed the Grim Reaper's ribs. He disengaged and leapt to right before it could land completely, though it sliced through his armor and grazed the left of his abdomen, drawing blood. She planned to spill much more of it before the fight reached its end, "If I wanted to listen to somebody flatter me, I'd go on a fucking date! Stop talking and start fighting!"

There was a vicious nature to X-23, one the Reaper was sure HYDRA could use to accomplish so many things, but only if she could be captured first. The girl was already on the offensive, charging right for the Grim Reaper with her claws bared. Laura dove at him and swung her claws, though this time the Reaper managed to get out of the way before she could do any damage. He retaliated by bringing his blade down upon X-23 with all the force he could muster. She managed to jump before she could be sliced down the middle, leaving the Reaper with nothing but dirt to dig his scythe into. Laura saw her chance and stomped on her opponent's arm, jamming the blade in even deeper and giving her the chance to deliver two strong punches and one swift kick to the Grim Reaper's face. It sent Laura's foe reeling back with enough force to dislodge his scythe give him a bloody lip.

"Hm… ha… haha," The Grim Reaper chuckled as he wiped the blood from his lip, "You are something special. I really do hope you come to your senses. It'd be such a shame to see HYDRA forced to dissect such a promising specimen."

"If there's gonna be cutting, I'd rather do it myself," Laura fired back. She was running full speed at the Grim Reaper, who raised up his scythe and pointed it at her. The gesture did nothing to slow Laura down, "You're about to have that thing shoved so far up your-"

She never got the chance to finish. A electromagnetic magnetic pulse shot from the Reaper's scythe, hitting Laura head on and stopping her inches away from reaching her target. The girl screamed out in pain, a sound that was music to the Grim Reaper's ears. Laura fell to her knees as her foe continued to chuckle, "You didn't think all it could do was turn into a scythe, did you?"

"Doesn't matter what it can do. Tricks like that only work on my once. All you've done is give yourself a few more seconds to live!"

The Grim Reaper returned to his battle stance and replied, "We'll see, little girl."

* * *

It seemed Laura was right about Peirce; he had far more than his robotic hand to rely on. Naruto had met few people who could keep up with him in his Ghost Rider form, but Pierce was holding his own far better than most. Between whatever other augmentations his limbs had, (Naruto hadn't seen them yet, but he was confident they were there), and the vibranium power punches he was throwing around, the mutant hunter was proving himself a worthy foe.

Whether or not he thought he could actually beat Naruto was another story. While things weren't looking dire for Pierce, he'd yet find an attack that could stun the Ghost Rider for longer than a few second. Naruto, on the other hand, had shown off more than a few moves that could prove fatal if they weren't properly dodged. Pierce's mechanically enhanced reflexes were the only thing that had saved him so far, and based on what his foe seemed to be preparing for him, he wasn't sure how much longer that was going to work.

"Hmph… think you're clever, don't you?" Naruto asked as he stood in front of Pierce, both of them panting. Behind them stood the HYDRA agents, too terrified to move. They'd only been watching up to his point, and oh what a battle they had witnessed. Moves too fast for the human eye to follow, attacks so powerful they could kill a normal man in one blow, and strategies that'd been thought out nearly a dozen blows in advance, all between two incredible fighters. Incredible, and yet, it was somehow still far from over. The Ghost Rider threw his chain over his shoulder and wrapped it around his body once more, then lifted both hands into the air. An orange glow began to grow within them, "You might be fast, but there's no way in hell you can outrun this!"

That orange glow burst into a massive fireball the size of Naruto, sending a heat wave crashing into every one of his foes. With the mighty roar of a Ghost Rider, Naruto took one step forward to plant his feet in the ground and started to hurl the fireball forward. Pierce felt like a deer in headlights, "Yep, ain't no way I'm dodging that…"

Flame obscured Naruto's line of site, but he could still hear. The first thing he heard was the chatter of gunfire, as the HYDRA agents pointed their guns in his direction and began to fire. It seemed they thought it might somehow stop the Ghost Rider's attack. A few stray bullets hit Naruto, but they did nothing. After that, he heard what sounded like a small sonic boom, which only could've come from Pierce. What his opponent had done, Naruto had no idea. He'd find out shortly.

"Haha! Don't need to dodge when you got a vibranium arm," Came the mad laughter of Pierce. When the flame cleared, all of the HYDRA agents had been turned to ash, but Peirce was still standing, or kneeling more accurately. His fist was slammed into the ground, and in front of him was a small wall made of vibranium energy. It was a makeshift forcefield that had just saved the mutant hunter's life, "I'll give it to you though, that was some spicy stuff you just threw!"

"Not as 'spicy' as what's coming up next," Naruto roared, charging at Pierce while he was still on the ground. Hellfire engulfed his fists, which were ready to break and/or burn every bone in his foe's body.

Pierce tried to jump up, but his position had left him too vulnerable. There was no time for him to try anything before the Ghost Rider's fists came tumbling onto him, smashing into his gut, his face, and his chest. It didn't stop there either, as Naruto made sure to stomp on Pierce's ankle and put a boot into his chest that sent the bastard skidding through the ground behind him. A hell of a combo, but not one that took out Pierce permanently. He was able to get back up onto his feet, albeit with some noticeable damage. Pieces of his skin looked as though they'd peeled off from his face, chest, and ankle, and while there were small trickles of blood, most of what it exposed was robot parts that matched Pierce's hand.

The mutant hunter was on his last legs and he knew it. Pierce swayed as he spoke, "So, that's how it's gonna be, huh? I was hopin' I could win the fight without bringin' out the big guns, but you haven't given me much of a choice. Say your prayers, Ghost Rider. You're about to get sent home."

"Somehow, I doubt that," Naruto snapped back. Pierce brought his hand up and pointed towards his foe with an open palm, making Naruto groan, "Ah, not this shit again."

Naruto was jerked back before he knew it as Pierce's hand shot towards him at the speed of a bullet. This time, something was different though. It wasn't just the hand like it had been before, this time there was something that came with it. That something was a metal cylinder with what piece of vibranium stored inside, and that vibranium was vibrating far too violently for this to be anything good. Pierce was grinning ear to ear as he watched the entire thing, "Cue the fireworks."

Looking down, there was only the Ghost Rider could think to say, "Aw fuck…"

* * *

 _A few moments prior_

Laura and the Reaper were neck and neck. Whatever advantage she'd had before he busted out his electronic pulse attacks were gone. If Laura got too close to the Reaper, she knew she was in for a shock, but the Reaper wasn't fast enough to keep Laura in range of his attacks. The results was a stalemate, and one that they couldn't keep up for much longer.

"How long do you intend for us to dance like this, X-23?" The Grim Reaper asked as he sent another pulse flying towards Laura. She ducked under it and charged towards him, "You're a lovely partner, but there is the matter of getting you home to consider."

Going on the offensive, Laura tried to slide down and sweep the Reaper's legs out from under him before he could shock her. He leaped over the attack rotated as soon as he hit the ground, trying to hit Laura with another pulse before she escaped his grasp. It was too late; his shot wasn't even fast enough to scorch his foe's hair. Laura went upright once again and turned towards the Reaper, "I'm already home!"

The Grim Reaper shook his head. Such a foolish little girl. He had an entire speech prepared for her in his head, about how foolish it was to think she could ever live among Xavier's mutants, citing that fact that she was nothing more than animalistic, genetically bred weapon who wanted to play at being an orphan. Those were all things he would've said too, if wasn't for the ear shattering explosion of vibranium that happened mere feet away from them.

"NARUTO!"

There was hardly time for the Grim Reaper to register what he'd heard the girl scream before the whole thing began. The explosion that preceded it all had been quite small, a meger six fit wide, but had been so because of its design. It was created to do as much damage as possible in those six feet, and it packed a punch that could even make the Thing flinch. Laura knew that blast had been designed for Naruto, and she needed to see if he was alright, and no Reaper was going to stand in her way…

Laura was in front of her foe before he could blink. The Reaper would've hit her with an electric pulse, if it wasn't for the fact that he felt a sharp pain shoot through his windpipe before he could. His breathing stopped… his scythe disengaged… and he looked down to see what had happened. When he saw what was waiting for him, the two claws on Laura's right hand stabbed straight through his throat, the Grim Reaper knew he'd met his end.

"Hehe… hehehe… killing the Grim Reaper? Not bad, little girl… not bad at all."

Those would be the last words he spoke before Laura ripped her claws from the Reaper's flesh and sent blood spewing everywhere. Her claws dripped scarlet as he fell to his knees, nearly dead before he hit the ground. What had gotten into Laura, she couldn't entirely say. She didn't even know she could move that fast. Laura did know Naruto was in trouble though, and for the time being, that was all she needed to know.

She rushed towards the site of the explosions, screaming out once again, "Naruto!"

* * *

It was impossible for Pierce not to be a little proud of himself. After all, he'd just killed a fucking a Ghost Rider! Sure, it cost him an arm that was worth more than anything he'd ever owned in his life, but with how much this was going to drive his price up, he didn't care. Pierce was on cloud-nine, "Aw hell to the fucking yes! That is what you get when you fuck with Donald Pierce! Haha!"

"You son of a bitch," A voice screamed from the purple mist. It wasn't Naruto, but it sure as hell sounded familiar. Pierce didn't need long to piece together it was, and it quickly killed his moment of victory. The voice screamed a second time as it dove from the mist, "I'm gonna rip your head off!"

"Well, that didn't last long," Pierce grumbled as Laura tackled him, her arms outstretched so she could stab him in the chest as she did. He fell onto is back, allowing to Laura pin him to ground, "Ah, shit! You ain't gonna know what hit you when I get up, bitch!"

Laura twisted her claws, making Pierce scream that much louder, "Why? Why the fuck did you have to come in here to ruin everything when it was going so well? I'm gonna have a family, and friends, and I've even got a lover! Why can't you people leave me alone and just let me have that?"

"Nnnnggghhhaaaaa," Came a growl from the purple haze, "Laura… move!"

There was no mistaking that voice. Laura smiled, at first in relief, and then in twisted glee when she realized what was coming for Pierce. He must've known too, because he was panicking, "N-now hold on! We can cut a deal! You don't let that thing come near me, and I promise-"

Rather than listen to him babble on, Laura ripped her claws from Pierce's body and cleared the way. Like a phoenix from the ashes, the Ghost Rider emerged from the haze, admittedly with more cracks in his skull and tares in his coat than usual. He made his way to Pierce, who was desperately trying to stand up and get away, and grabbed him by the shirt before he could fully get up off the ground. Naruto grabbed Pirece's face and forced him to look into the Ghost Rider in the eyes. At first all he felt was the heat radiating off Naruto's body. Then, he started to feel a little bit more…

"DONALD PIERCE!" Boomed the voice of the Rider. "YOU'VE TAKEN THE LIVES OF COUNTLESS MUTANTS AND OTHER INNOCENTS IN THE NAME OF SPORT! FOR THIS, YOU MUST FACE WHAT AWAITS YOU IN THE AFTERLIFE! PREPARE YOURSELF, MORTAL… FOR THE PENNANT STARE!"

"No! Wait, please God," Pierce cried out, but God had no intentions of saving him. The pain of every sin he'd ever committed, all the people he'd killed and the pain it'd but their loved ones through, seared his body all at once. Pierce got what he deserved as he body turned to ash and his began its descent to hell.

And just like that, it was over. Pierce was reduced to a pile of ash, and there was no one left to challenge. Naruto returned to his human form, which had a few cuts and bruises that had transferred over from the Rider form, and fell to his knees, clearly exhausted. Laura went right to his side, "Naruto! Are you okay?"

Naruto nodded, doing his best to speak through his pain, "I've been worse than this before. Just get me to the X-Mansion and give me a place to sit. I'll be back to normal before you know it."

"The X-Mansion… " Laura repeated, having almost forgotten in all the insanity. She looked towards the Manor, her thoughts returning to the mission ahead. Fighting back tears she said to Naruto, "Come on… let's go home."

* * *

"I swear, boy, one a' these days you're gonna get yourself in a mess ya can't get out of," Rogue told Naruto as they walked through the gardens of the Xavier Institute. Her southern drawl was as strong as ever, and she wore her classic green and white jumpsuit with brown jacket over top of it. Her hair was brunette with a white streak on top. Her eyes were emerald green and her lips were ruby red thanks to her lipstick. A beautiful creation that every men who'd ever met had fantasized about, and fantasizing was all they could ever do. One kiss, and Rogue's powers would kick in, sucking the life out of them. There was a damn good reason her curvaceous figure was covered from head to toe.

Laura hadn't really noticed the beauty though. Even while she helped Naruto walk, her focus remained solely on the new home she was about to enter. The massive wood mansion had her as wided eyed as a child on Christmas morning, "This place is incredible! I can't believe this is going to be my new home!"

"Yep, it's a wonder alright," Naruto groaned out, trying not to kill the moment. He looked up at Rogue, one of the X-Men he was most well acquainted with, and asked her, "Rogue, can you go get Logan for us. He's gonna wanna meet Laura. In case you hadn't guess from what I said about her powers-"

"Based on her powers, she's my kid," Came a gruff voice just in front of them. Laura looked up with wide eyes to find a man walking towards her, a man who wore a simple pair of jeans, a white t-shirt, and brown coat over it. His hair was jet black, his face was covered in fuzz, and between his lips was the very end of a cigar. It was Logan, aka the one and only Wolverine, and he looked quite skeptical of his supposed spawn. He got right up in her face, sizing her up, "Rogue got a call last night, said a girl claiming to be my daughter was supposed to get here today. That you?"

For the first time in the presence of her father, Laura had to fight just to remain calm, "Y-yeah… my name's Laura."

Logan sniffed the girl, strange as that might have seemed. He narrowed his eyes and said, "You've got an adamantium skeleton… that not something I was born with."

"Wasn't something I was born with either."

A good response, although it implied she's been through a surgery just as painful as his had been. Logan thought for a couple more seconds, then asked, "Got anything that proves you're mine?"

"Heh… I heard you weren't very trusting," Laura said with a smile. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. It was a report from HYDRA, one that apparently detailed everything they'd done to create Laura, "This is the best I could get when I escaped. It's just a page, but it should be enough for you to get the idea."

Taking the paper in his hand, Logan looked it over, then turned his gaze to Laura. She stood there with hitched breath, waiting for his response. Logan let out a small sigh and said, "I'll want a DNA test of my own… but I believe you."

Laura's eyes lit up, "Really? That's-"

"Woah-woah-woah, hold on a second," Logan interrupted. He was careful to be 100% clear about this next bit, "You're my daughter; I buy that. Doesn't mean we're gonna be buddy-buddy all of a sudden. Don't expect me to be out in the yard tossing a ball around with ya or anything! You got that?"

"Yeah, totally," Laura responded quickly. She hadn't expected her father to accept her right away, not when she'd only just met him, "So um… that means I can stay here, right?"

Without hesitation, Logan replied, "Yeah, I know the Professor wouldn't care. Taking in strays is kinda his thing. Might have to talk him to letting Naruto stay though. He's not always a fan of how the kid takes care of his business."

"He's saved my life more than once. Naruto's my friend, and I'll fight for him if I have to."

Logan looked at Naruto, someone he'd come across more than once, and sniffed the air around him. He snarled at the young Rider, "He's more than just your friend… I can smell it."

Just like that, Logan's claws came out and he started walking towards Naruto. The blond did his best to back away, but with his body still worn out, he tripped and fell backwards, with Rogue doing his best to catch, "Ah, shit!"

"I gotcha," The southern bell told him as he fell into his arms. What she hadn't counted on was the way Naruto was throwing his arms around to try and steady himself. His bare hand brushed up against her face for at least a good second, making Rogue's heart stop, "Uh-oh…"

Rogue's eyes shot shut, just waiting for the power of hellfire to come surging into her… but it never did. When she opened them a few seconds later, all she saw was her teammate walking towards her and Naruto, growling, "Look here, bub, I'll give ya pass cause ya didn't know she was my kid, but from here on out, you can consider her off limits. Might not of been a dad for long, but I know Laura isn't gonna be safe around you. You can stay for one night, my thanks for getting her home, and then you can go ahead and hightail it outta here!"

Before anyone could respond, Logan turned around and headed back towards the X-Mansion. Rogue let go of Naruto without thinking, her mind off in other places, and let the kid make the short drop to the ground. He was fine, at least from a physical perspective, "Well… that could've gone better."

"Least we know he gives a shit about me," Laura said with a shrug and a small smile, "You did it; you got me home. Thank you, Naruto."

"It was my pleasure. Now what do we do about me and your dad?"

Laura really liked hearing Logan referred to as her 'dad.' It didn't do anything to soften the blow of what came next though, "I guess we… do what he said." Naruto's eyes went a little wide as she further explained, "It's not like you could really stick around when this was over anyways. The X-Men wouldn't let someone who attracts the kind of danger you do stay here for long, and I can't leave when I just found my family. Honestly, I think this was how things were gonna have to go anyways…"

She was right, and Naruto knew it too. Yet, his heart didn't seem to care. All it knew was that someone it had really began care about was potentially leaving. Naruto tried to hide how the whole situation made him feel, "Yeah, totally. I got you to your family and you can be with them now. That's all the really matters, right?"

"Naruto," Laura was fighting back tears. She could see the pain on his face, the way he trying so hard not to make her feel guilty. It hurt her almost as much as it did him, "This isn't goodbye forever. I can talk to my dad, maybe even get him to come around on you. We could still be together, or at least try to be. You know that I like you… more than I've ever liked anyone… and I… I don't want you to not be in my life…"

Tears began to fall down Laura's cheeks. It was a site Naruto couldn't bare to see. He stood up, walked through the pain and over to her, and pulled her face into his chest, whispering into his lover's ear, "I'll always be in your life, I swear, Laura. I don't forget about those precious to me. Maybe we can't be together right this second, but I'm not gonna forget about you. You'll see me again."

Laura sniffed back some of her tears and nodded. She pulled her head from Naruto's chest and almost said something, but whatever it was, she didn't quite seem ready to say it yet. Naruto could only watch as she pushed him away and ran for the X-Mansion, leaving him alone Rogue. Luckily, she was too off in her own little world to see Naruto fighting back his own tears…

While he was busy trying to bottle things up, she sputtering the same phrase out over and over again, "He touched me… he can touch me."

* * *

Naruto would've given anything for someone to just tell him what to do. Laura hurt him, hurt him worse than Pierce's attack ever could've, but she hadn't meant to. Hell, hurting him seemed to hurt her right back. As much as Naruto wanted to be angry with her, he just couldn't. He knew this was out of either of their hands, even if that didn't make him feel any better. What was he supposed to do?

Those thoughts were interrupted when Naruto heard a knock at his door. Day had turned to night by then, and he was staying at one of the guest rooms in the Xavier Institute. It was a simple room, with a wood floor, white walls, and bed with green sheets up against the wall. Perfectly satisfactory for a single night. There was another knock at the door, so Naruto got up from his bed and walked over. He wasn't really in the mood for visitors, but couldn't come up with a good reason not to answer the door.

"I'm coming," Naruto grumbled. He reached the door and opened it expecting to see Professor X or maybe Cyclops here to wish him a good night and warn him not to do anything stupid while he was here. Instead he saw Rogue standing before him in her bathrobe, "Hey Rogue. What's up?"

She stared at him, not saying a word. Naruto waited for a couple more seconds, then began to ask, "Rogue, are you feeling al-MPH!"

Rogue lunged at the young Rider, latching her ruby lips onto his own. She kissed him for a few seconds, pulled away, then blinked a few times, processes what had just happened. Without thinking, Rogue pushed Naruto forward, closing the door behind her, "It's true; you really can touch me. Something about you being a Ghost Rider means my powers don't work on you."

"Maybe it's because you can't suck the life out of something that already died. More to the point, you just kissed me!"

"I know I did, sugar," Rogue said with a blush. She untied her robe and let it fall down her shoulders, exposing her real outfit to Naruto. It was black, lace lingerie that barely contained her impressive bust, "I'm sorry about being this forward, it's just… well, I don't get many chances like this, and you're only here for one night. I can't let you go without at least trying to get some release."

Now Naruto understood. Since Rogue couldn't touch anyone without sucking the life out of them, sex was a rare, RARE gift for her. Even if she fought as hard as she could to control her powers, she couldn't muster up much more than a kiss, and her one night with Gambit had nearly killed him. Now she'd found someone who could hold her in his arms all night long, and she at least had to see if that was a proposition that interested him.

Rogue walked up to Naruto, pulling him close to her. She felt a little ridiculous doing it, but she pushed her chest up against his, pulled their wastes together, and whispered in the sexiest voice she could, "I'm asking you as a friend, Naruto… please, make love to me. Make sweet, sweet love to me all night long."

"Make love to you, eh?" Naruto repeated. This wasn't exactly what he'd been hoping for tonight. He didn't want another evening of meaningless, passionate sex. What he wanted was an honest to God relationship; someone he could talk to the morning after and make plans for the day with over a nice breakfast he'd made for them. But he was frustrated, and he needed to work that out one way or another. If Rogue could get what she needed out of that too, even better, "I think I can manage that."

Naruto kissed Rogue, intent on giving her the kind of exactly the kind of night she pined for. It wasn't love, it wasn't even all that romantic, but it felt good to help a friend and get some release. For tonight, that would have to do…

* * *

Hinata didn't know how much longer she could last.

For the past few days she, Kiba, and Akamaru had been traveling South per Mephisto's orders, Kiba riding on the back of Hinata's motorcycle while Akamaru somehow got his own bike. Thus far they hadn't "recruited" anyone new, just returned a few lesser demons that had escaped from Mephisto's grasp. Despite the easy fights, a new problem soon become apparent… the side effect of being a rider were almost overwhelming Hinata.

She recognized what she needed to do. Despite her upbringing she wasn't a stranger to 'self-servicing,' she just rarely indulged in the act, and certainly wasn't going to allow her new powers to dictate her actions. As soon as the group checked into a hotel room, Hinata had drew the coldest bath imaginable before adding several buckets of ice. Thankfully housing a demon meant immunity to hyperthermia, but that hadn't solved the woman's problem as her libido refused to cool down.

The rider honestly didn't know how long she'd been sitting in the bathtub, only that most of the ice had melted and the water had turned lukewarm. As she debated adding more water to the already almost overflowing tub, the bathroom door opened. "Kiba!" Hinata cried out as she used her hands to cover herself as much as possible, "Close the door before Akamaru sees!"

"Oh relax," Kiba waved off her friend's concern. "The little perv swiped the company card and decided to spend the night at the bar. Hinata… we need to talk."

"About what?" Hinata asked, uncovering her upper body.

"Look, this isn't healthy for you, holding everything in." Kiba explained before setting something on the toilet seat. Hinata just now realized Kiba had carried a laptop in with her. Although she raised an eyebrow, Kiba ignored it as she said, "Since Akamaru is enjoying your card I figured it was only right that you enjoy a bit of his stuff. I've caught him using this thing a few times to look a porn. Not sure if he uses it for much else, honestly."

Despite the situation, a small smile graced Hinata's lips as she softly chuckled, "No matter what species, Akamaru is still a horn dog."

"Tell me about it, I'm really surprised we didn't manage to breed him while he was still a dog," Kiba agreed before opening up the laptop. "But back to my point, you need to stop all this nonsense. Look up whatever you want; I won't ask and I won't judge. All I'm worried about is you feeling better."

With a soft smile and a sly wink, Kiba exited the bathroom, closing the door on the way out. Left alone once more, Hinata thought over her friend's words before begrudgingly admitting she was right. With a sigh, the woman used the shower curtain to dry off her hands before twisting her body to face the computer. Opening up the web browser, she found the homepage to be a search engine, with some rather interesting suggestions.

Deciding to ignore whatever Akamaru had searched, Hinata slowly typed in 'blond guy' and hit enter. In less than a second her screen was filled up with links to other websites. The rider didn't know where to start, until she saw the word 'images' at the top of the screen. Rationalizing the word was just another way of say 'photo', the former heiress clicked on it, the words on screen soon being replaced with numerous images of blond, smiling men.

Hinata could feel herself getting warmer, but the pictures weren't quite right. Clicking back on the search bar, she amended the phrase to say 'blond blue eyed guy.' Quickly the images changed to only featuring men she'd described. Getting warmer still, but not quite there, Hinata tried 'blond blue eyed guy naked' only to be confused when her search didn't return any images, only two sentences.

'What the heck is Safe Search?' Hinata wondered as she clicked on the link to turn it off. She was rewarded for her curiosity, the images now lacked clothes and the men showing off their natural gifts. So close but so far away, Hinata made one last adjustment to her search, typing 'blond blue eyed guy naked well endowed.' Even now, she couldn't help but type away with a bit of dignity. Hinata felt as if her lower body was on fire when the new images appeared, but held off from taking action when she noticed another detail.

"What's a video?" the woman quietly wondered aloud, not recognizing the term. Clicking on the word caused the images to be replaced by large ones with titles. Not seeing why this section was so special, Hinata clicked on a random image, only to gasp as the image increased in size to dominate the screen and began moving like a movie. "Oh sweet kami," The rider softly yelled before the need became too great and she took action.

Back in the hotel room, Kiba sat at the foot of one of the twin beds. Originally it was planned that the women would share a bed, but with Akamaru running off for the night that was no longer necessary. Her wayward brother was the furthest thing from Kiba's mind right now. Instead she was concerned for her friend. As she read the "Rider's Handbook" Mephisto had provided, Kiba gained a great understanding of what lied ahead for her 'wife.' Eventually Hinata would get to the point that lust would take over and she'd seek out any random man to gain release… and, if Kiba's hunch was right, then be heartbroken when that man wasn't Naruto.

Kiba prayed it wouldn't get to that point, and she soon discover those prayers would be answered. Although her enhanced hearing only caught a few muffled words and moans, Kiba's excellent sense of smell picked up the increased pheromones Hinata was putting off. Unfortunately, this triggered a domino effect.

Gritting her teeth, the Inuzuka woman tried to hold off as long as possible before she couldn't stand it. Like Hinata, Kiba had been reigning in her desires since arriving to this new world. Although much more willing in the 'activity,' she'd been forced to stop thanks to the lack of privacy. Being alone in the room, with her brother gone for the night and her friend otherwise occupied, was the tipping point that sent Kiba over the edge.

Almost shredding her clothes as she took them off and threw them to the floor, a common occurrence since she slept in the buff, Kiba fell back onto the bed as she got to work. Already knowing what set her off, she didn't need the laptop to help her. Instead she let her secret desires drive her actions, and not just the ones about a certain blond. Release would come quickly, but not quick enough. She panicked when she heard the bathtub draining.

Hopping under the blanket, the woman closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep as Hinata exited the bathroom, wearing only a towel and carrying the laptop. At seeing her friend seemingly asleep, the rider set the laptop on a nearby chair before giving a friendly kiss to Kiba's check, saying, "Thank you, Kiba. Good night."

As Hinata turned away to get her pajamas on, she was unaware that her friend had cracked open one of her eyes, a fire having been reignited. 'Fuck, this is getting bad.' Kiba thought as Hinata finished getting dressed and climbed into her own bed. 'I've got to tell her, I just don't know how…'


	6. Blood, Sweat, and Tears Pt 2

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to another chapter of Uzumaki Rider! It feels like we say this a lot, but we really can't thank you all enough for the feedback we've been getting for the story. You never really know whether or not an audience is going to take to an idea, and seeing so many people enjoying the fanfic is really all we could ever ask for. We'd love to be able to get these chapters out to you guys sooner, but we've got other responsibilities that must come first. This chapter will see some development between Hinata, Kiba, and Akamaru, but will mainly focus on Mephisto and Dr. Strange exploring exactly what's going with the Dark Dimension. By the end of the chapter you'll have a much better idea of what's coming for our heroes. Thank you all so much for reading and please review!

Chapter Soundtrack - That's All: Genesis

* * *

When morning came, neither Hinata or Kiba talked much about what happened the night before. By the time they were up, Akamaru had already returned home, having apparently spent the night with a college girl who had zero interest in seeing him the morning after the deed was done. With that in mind, the gang checked out of their hotel rooms and head towards the parking lot, prepared to get back onto the road and move towards Naruto.

Of course, that would've been the pan, if it hadn't been for the fact that Mephisto was waiting for them by Hinata's motorcycle. Kiba groaned the second their 'boss' came into view, "Oh, come on! I was just standing here, having myself a nice morning, and shit starts go wrong before we can even get on the road! Couldn't you at least wait until we've had breakfast or something?"

"Do I look like the kind of person who waits on people?" Mephisto asked. He closed the gap between him and Hinata's group and began explaining, "There's no reason to bitch; I won't be taking up that much of your time."

Hinata folded her arms across her chest and muttered, "Considering you're the one who brought us here, I think you're taking up ALL of our time."

"Fair point. Just thought you should know that there won't be much time to get acquainted when you get to see your old buddy. The situation that's developing right now calls for nothing short of immediate action, and I need your minds focused on the task at hand. Do you understand me?"

The tone with which he spoke seemed almost insulting to Hinata, "We're shinobi, Mephisto, even if were not in the Hidden Leaf anymore. We know how to separate our emotions from our work."

Akamaru piped in, "Whatever bullshit you wanna throw at us, we're more than capable of taking care of without you holding our hand."

"Oh really?" Mephisto asked, "Is that why it was dumb luck that saved your asses against Morbius the other day?"

A low blow, and one with rather disturbing implications that Kiba didn't intend to let slide, "Just how closely have you been watching us?"

Mephisto gave the young lady a mischievous grin, "Close enough to know how much you'd love to stay in a single bed hotel room tonight."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Hinata asked.

"N-nothing. Who knows?" Kiba asked, glancing at Hinata while hiding the blush on her face. She was well aware what Mephisto was referring to, "We've got the message, alright? Run along and do whatever it is sick fucks like you do."

Mephisto loved how easily he could strike a nerve with these girls. If there weren't more pressing matters, he would've stuck around for hours just to toy with them, "Same to you. I'll be in touch."

The death glare the entire group gave Mephisto as he turned away wasn't lost on him. If anything, he relished it. On stressful days like these, driving others mad was just about the only thing Mephisto could look forward to. Hopefully Dr. Strange would prove equally as entertaining…

* * *

"How sure are you?"

Dr. Strange rolled his eyes. He and Mephisto where currently standing in the latter's library, a gothic looking room with filled with dark wood and ancient looking torture devices made of iron. Strange wasn't happy to be there, and he was even less happy to have his information called into question by a bastard like Mephisto, "Mordo has no reason to lie about this. He's just as afraid of what Dormammu's up to as we are."

That may have been true, but it didn't make the information any easier to for Mephisto to swallow, "Why would he think my Ghost Rider is the key to breaking into this dimension? There's plenty of crazy shit the Ghost Rider's capable of, but freely hoping from dimension to dimension isn't one of them. The kid would've gone back home by now if he could."

"According to Mordo, it's not about the power the Ghost Rider has; it's about what he's linked to. The Ghost Rider sends souls to the underworld, so logically he must have a connection to it. If Dormammu can capture the Ghost Rider and use him as a link to the underworld, he could siphon in more souls than he's ever dreamed of. With that kind of power, he could destroy the sanctums and take this dimension without so much as a fight."

A deep scawel came across Mephisto's face, "Let's suppose that's true, how exactly is Dormammu going to get the Ghost Rider into the Dark Dimension when he can't even come here himself? Even if he could manage that, it's not like he's got anyone that can compare to one of my Riders!"

"Pride cometh before the fall, Mephisto," Strange reminded him. He noted that Mephisto had said 'one of' his Riders as well. Not the time to bring it up, but it was certainly something Strange would remember, "Put your ego aside and take in the facts. We've been wondering what's got Dormammu acting this insane, and now we've got a reasonable explanation why. He's found a way to take this dimension once and for all, and he'll go to any lengths he needs to in order to get it done. Whatever Dormammu's next move is, it's going to be big and it's going to be insane! He's coming at us a with hail mary attack and we have to be ready for that!"

"I know that," Mephisto snarled. In fact, he knew it all too well. He wanted desperately to find some kind of hole in Strange's argument, but it just wasn't there. The facts had been laid out in front of the demon lord, plain as day, "Dormammu believes everything you just said, but there's no hail mary, as you put it, that could touch my Ghost Rider! Even if Mordo was still working for him, I'd put my money Naruto very day of the week! Who could he possibly send?"

Doctor Strange didn't want to say it, but there was one person who did come to mind, "...Satannish."

That name alone was enough to earn a scoff from Mephisto. He wasn't scoffing at Satannish's power, that he'd always been careful to be weary off, but at the idea the demon lord would assist Dormammu, "Oh please! Satannish and I have an understanding. We know any battle between the two us and our soldiers would almost always end in a stalemate, and a drawn out one at that. He wouldn't risk that peace by siding with my enemy."

Satannish was a shapeshifting interdimensional demon lord who made deals with mortals, exchanging extraordinary power for their souls. He was similar to Mephisto in many ways, which was probably why the two had clashed on so many occasions. As Mephisto had said, there had been an unspoken treaty drawn between the two of them, but it was one Strange doubted the validity of, "You're forgetting something. Satannish might have made his way to this realm, but he was born of Dormammu's hand in the Dark Dimension, or at least we believe he was. There's a good chance he's still loyal to his creator, not to mention that fact he'd probably be more powerful in Dark Dimension as well."

"That doesn't prove anything."

This was getting them nowhere. Mephisto was too egotistical to believe he could be so thoroughly duped. Luckily, Strange still had one card left to play, "Alright, Mephisto, let me ask you something… if you were in Satannish's position, what would you do?"

"I wouldn't…" Mephisto began before cutting himself off. His fists began to shake with rage, his eyes locked on Strange. He turned towards a desk behind and proceeded to swipe everything off from it with a single swing of his arm. Enraged, Mephisto cried out, "FUCK!"

Strange could understand his anger. After all, this was going to make things infinitely more complicated for him. Challenging someone in another dimension was one thing, but a fellow demon lord equal in Mephisto to power? That was another matter entirely, "Things are going to get worse before they get better. That's something you should be used to, Mephisto. Satannish is a nasty opponent, but between the two of us, we should be more than able to handle him. We get ahold of Satannish, take him down, and figure out what he knows. Once we manage that, everything'll be fine."

"You hope," Mephisto added. He was still enraged, but there was work to be done. Mephisto would just have to channel that anger into completing the task at hand, "Fine, let's go and pay old Satannish a visit. It's time to remind who the top demon lord in this dimension is!"

* * *

They'd been riding for too many days. Being stuck on a bike was too damn exhausting for Hinata, Kiba, and Akamaru, especially when they were constantly being interrupted to go and do some odd job for Mephisto. Today, they had decided, would be different. They would take things slow and enjoy some well earned down time.

The trio was currently in the park, doing their best to do nothing at all. Hinata and Kiba sat together on a small wooden bench, with happy couples and blue skies all around them, while Akamaru was leaned up against a nearby tree, just sitting on the ground and taking in the fresh air. It was exactly what the doctor ordered.

"Well would you look at that. Akamaru's laid back and not winking at every pretty girl who walks by him. Even he's nice and chill today," Kiba comment, watching her brother 'veg out', (one of the new terms she'd learned since coming to this dimension). Kiba smiled at Akamaru, "I'm almost proud of him."

"Tell me about it," Hinata said with a pleasant sigh, "I could stay here all day."

It was such a pleasant moment… which of course meant it was time for someone to come along to try and ruin it, "Me too, long as I've got a view like this."

Kiba and Hinata towards the new voice to find a tall young man with soft features and dark hair roughly their age standing before them. His clothes suggested he came from money, and his demeanor suggested he thought that was all he needed. Hinata had dealt with his kind before back in the Hidden Leaf, "I'm sorry, were you talking to us? I hope not, cause if you were, that was a terrible opening line."

"It wasn't a line, just an honest statement," The young man replied. He spoke softly and acted almost bashful, likely because he thought it was charming. That didn't seem to be working on these two ladies, but he was going to try anyways, "My name's Timothee. I don't wanna seem forward, but there's a cafe across the street. I always feel weird eating by myself; would you two care to join me?"

This guy was already getting on Kiba's nevers, but she knew just what to do about him. She wore a devious smirk as she put her arm around Hinata's shoulder, "Do you mind? My girlfriend and I are trying to have some alone time."

Hinata didn't miss a beat, cuddling up to Kiba before adding, "It's our two year anniversary."

"Really? Lesbains? That's the best you could come up with?" Timothee asked, "I'm not that bad of a guy ya know…"

"Oh for the love of God," Hinata grumbled. She grabbed Kiba by the collar and pulled her into a deep kiss without hesitation. Kiba responded right away, returning the gesture with almost too much vigor. Their lips parted about ten seconds later. Hinata turned back to Timothee, "You were saying?"

It took a moment for Timothee to think up a response, "Oh… well, I could always use some more friends. If you guys give me your numbers, we could party some time-"

Kiba's eye started twitching, "Would you get the fuck out of here? We're not interested!"

"Okay, no reason to be a bitch about it," Timothee snapped. He got right down in Hinata and Kiba's faces, "For the record, we could've had a lot of fun together. Could've taken you guys to parties, shown you what a real buzz looks like, give you two a nice hotel room to go down on each other. Might've watched if I was in the right mood… and I'm sure you two would've been courteous and let me join in on the fun one or twice as a bit of a thank you."

With every word this guy spoke, Kiba became more prepared to rip his fucking head off. Another couple of seconds, and she probably would've sent the prick to the ICU. Fortunately, a warm stream of liquid hit Timothee's leg before that could, making him spin around and turn his attention away from the ladies, "Hey!"

A brindle bulldog pup had come up to Timothee, lifted one of his legs into the air, and proceeded to piss on the rich asshole. Oddly enough, the dog couldn't have looked happier with itself. Timothee jumped back just as the dog's owner, a young woman a bit older than Hinata and Kiba, ran up and grabbed him, "No, Sarge! Bad dog! I'm so sorry; he's never done that before!"

"You mangey fucking-" Timothee began to scream, stopping when he noticed the way all eyes had turned towards him. He scowled and turned away from the women, storming off in the opposite direction, "Forget it! Trying to show you ladies a good time, but if this how it's gonna end, fuck it!"

The young man was gone before anyone could get in another word. Sagre panted happily in his human's arms, while she was busy looking down at him in confusion, "I guess if you were gonna pee on somebody, that's the kind guy you'd want it to be…"

Hinata watched the two of them leave, noticing from the corner of her eye that Akamaru gave Sarge a thumbs-up from his spot under the tree. It was impossible not to laugh when the dog yipped back, "Kiba, I'm starting to think Akamaru might still know how to talk to dogs."

"Yeah, and it's coming in handy," Kiba laughed back. Between her brother's little stunt and that fiery kiss with Hinata, (not that she intended to say anything about it), Kiba was feeling pretty pleased right about now…

* * *

If you asked Mephisto, he would've said Satannish's lair was nothing special. It was an abandoned stone castle in Wales, the kind of place that looked just dingny enough on the outside for no one to disturb it and just liveable enough on the inside that Satannish could bring himself to spend some time there. Said demon lord currently found himself in what used to be a dining room, though now it was just a room with 12 foot foot table that worked perfectly for Satannish to spread his various maps and charts across, when he first heard two men enter his humble abode.

Having met Mephisto and Doctor Strange plenty of times before, he had no trouble identify the energy their magic put off. He didn't look at either them when he first spoke, "Well-well, what have we here? Two old friends stopping by for a visit? Did you two come all this way just to see little old me?"

"Well it's not like we'd come to enjoy the scenery," Mephisto replied. Moss grew on the walls around them and the once elegant red carpet under his feet had more holes than swiss cheese, "But why don't we skip the pleasantries, hm? We're here to talk about your boss, Satannish."

"Last time I checked, I was my own boss."

Mephisto and Strange both scowled at the dismissive answer. Satannish, who was currently is his six and half feet tall, bald headed human form, knew what they were talking about. Strange didn't intend to sit there and listen to him claim otherwise, "Well Dormammu sure as hell isn't your partner. He's always been more of a 'one for one and all for me' kind of guy."

The name hardly seemed to register to Satannish, who at finally had the courtesy to look at the two men, "That's true, but I haven't worked for Dormammu in some time. I'm afraid you two are looking rather misguided to me."

"I'm only going to tell you to cut the bullshit one more time," Mephisto warned his fellow demon lord. He walked towards him with murderous intent in his eyes, "I've stayed out of your shit, just like we agreed, and now you're about to go and hand the Ghost Rider over to Dormammu so that he can waltz into our world unscaved!"

At the mention of the Ghost Rider, Satannish's eyes flashed for only a second. He could see that both Strange and Mephisto had taken notice, giving him little room to continue his charade. Satannish let loose a small sigh before asking, "How exactly is it that you two managed to come up with all this, hm? Figuring out I'm Dormammu's connection to this realm was only logical, but how you know of our plans for the Ghost Rider is beyond me."

"That's not your concern," Strange snapped, "All we want from you is your word you'll step down from whatever bargain you've made with Dormammu. Do that, and this whole thing will be over before you know it. No harm, no foul… what do you say?"

No one said a word. Satannish looked Mephisto in the eye, both of them doing their best to read one another. The first to react was Satannish, and that reaction...was a smile, "Would it do me any good to lie to you, old friend?"

Mephisto never blinked as he said, "Not a chance. Do you really think you can take Strange and I together? We'd rip you to pieces."

"That you would… put escaping you? That, I think I can mange!"

Sliding his hand over to one of the charts on his table, Satannish grabbed it and tossed it aside to reveal a pentagram engraved in the wood. With a snap of his fingers, Satannish ignited a small flame in the palm of his hand. The pentagram burned at demon's lord touch, creating a blinding light that forced Strange and Mephisto to shield their eyes. A split second later, it was gone, along with Satannish.

"Huh… a one way transportation spell designed to destroy itself to avoid any possible tracking," Mephisto noted, his tone utterly banal. There was a long, uncomfortable silence… until rage exploded in Mephisto's twisted old heart, "He ran! THAT FUCKING COWARD RAN!"

"Don't start losing your head over this," Strange pleaded.

Mephisto roared at his partner, "Why not? I'm about to lose everything else! Satannish is in the wind, and if we don't get ahold of him soon, this whole dimension is done for!"

"Which is exactly why we need to stay calm and think the situation through. It's not like we don't know where Satannish is going. He's after the Ghost Rider, so all we need to do is keep your bounty hunter somewhere safe until we can set up some sort of trap for Satannish. Simple."

The way Strange spoke so calmly made Mephisto want to rip his vocal cords out, "Yes, simple, until one thing goes wrong and both of our worlds come tumbling down. I'm going to call in every agent I can spare, and you need to do the same! Naruto must be protected at all costs!"

Strange nodded, "We're on the same page, Mephisto. There's no need for you too scream at me."

"If I were to slit my wrists right now, that blood that'd spew out would be boiling hot enough to melt your face off! Be happy screaming is is all I'm doing!"

"Fair enough. Now let's get going."

* * *

Satannish didn't look forward to the task that laid before him. Dormammu had never been the forgiving type, whether an issue was actually someone's fault or not, and now Satannish had to go and tell him that the proverbial cat was already out of the bag. It was impossible to know for sure how the ruler of the Dark Dimension would react, but needless to say, the odds weren't in favor of him being pleased with this development.

Satannish was in his demon form at the moment, a seven foot tall, green skinned humanoid figure with horns, red eyes, and a second face complete with a mouth full of jagged teeth and two oversize eyes stretching across his abdomen. Fire covered his head and shoulders, making him look, fittingly enough, like a demon who'd crawled straight up from hell. Yet, even a figure that imposing couldn't help but wither as he walked into the cave before him.

"I'll be lucky if he doesn't try to carve out my eyes," Satannish grumbled as walked through the cave, following the glow of the mysterious purple crystals that clung to the wall around him. If one looked carefully enough, they could almost see what looked to be a flame burning within in those crystals, but too much heat radiated from each one to make that possible. It wasn't long before Satannish reached the end of the cave, where he found a wall made from the same material as those crystals, one that in the shape of an oversized mirror. Satannish looked into that mirror and called out to seemingly no one, "Dormammu? You home?"

A figure become visible in the crystal mirror, and demonic voice began to echo throughout the cave, "What do you want, Satannish?"

"We've um… we've got a bit of the problem," Satannish answered, "I got a visit from Mephisto today. He knows everything you've been planning, right down to kidnapping the Ghost Rider."

"Hm, he managed that far quicker than I expect him to. Looks as though we've been forced to move up the time table."

Satannish cringed before asking, "Sir, are you sure that's wise? We're dealing with-"

"Are you trying to question my judgement? Perhaps you'd like to question those powers this dimension has given you too, hm?"

"No sir! I just… perhaps if I could speak to you in person, I could better explain-"

The voice came crashing down, shaking the entire cave, "I can see the cowardice written all over your face just fine from where I stand! Move the time table up and get the Ghost Rider, or you prove yourself worthless in my eyes! Goodbye, Satannish! Do not fail me!"

And like that, the figure faded from the mirror, and Satannish was alone once again. His task had been laid out before him, and it would be no easy feat. The Ghost Rider would be heavily guarded now, and he'd been a challenge target even before that. Satannish was going to have his work cut out for him, "Me vs The Ghost Rider and the forces of Mephisto… at least I know it won't be boring."

* * *

After the nearly perfect day like the one Hinata, Kiba and Akamaru had enjoyed, there was only one thing they wanted to do: sleep.

Akamaru was off in his own room already, passed out and snoring so loud you could almost hear him through the walls. Kiba and Hinata had just begun getting ready for bed themselves, both in a t-shirt and underwear for pajamas. Hitting the hay and taking a nice long rest for a few hours was almost all they could think about… almost.

"Hey, Hinata, you planning on taking a bath tonight?

Currently lying on rightmost of the two beds in the hotel room, Hinata replied, "I was actually gonna take one in the morning."

"I mean the OTHER kind of bath," Kiba replied from her own bed.

Hinata blushed before answering, "I wasn't planning on it. We don't have the laptop."

"Could always look something up on the phone Mephisto gave us."

"You can watch porn on your phone?" Hinata asked, rather astonished, "Jeez, it's a miracle anyone in this dimension ever gets anything done!"

Kiba couldn't stop herself from laughing. For as proper as she acted, Hinata had a more 'resquie' side to her, "Whatever you say. You can watch something on the tv too. I can go outside if you want. Mephisto's paying for everything, and I know you could probably use some alone time."

She most certainly could have, seeing as her 'side effects' were kicking in hard that night, but Hinata couldn't help but feel a little bit guilty, "It's freezing outside."

"So I'll go take a shower instead."

Hinata thought about that for a moment, "But… the side effects are hitting you too, aren't they? I know they're not as strong, but still, I wouldn't wanna get some release if you aren't. It um… it might sound a little strange, but if you'd like we could… watch something together."

In a rare turn of events, Kiba's face went completely red. It's not that she didn't like the idea, in fact the problem was exactly the opposite. She was afraid she might like it too much. Still, this wasn't something normal friends did. Sure, she and Hinata weren't exactly normal friends, but Kiba couldn't help but wonder what this might have meant for their relationship.

It… it couldn't have been that Hinata was feeling the same sorts of things that Kiba was, could it? Hinata had more than a friendly interest in Naruto as it was, but then so did Kiba. Was there a chance that something else was going on her? No, it couldn't be. As much as Kiba would've liked to believe that, she told herself Hinata was just going above and beyond for her as a friend.

Nonetheless, Kiba wasn't going to waste the chance she was being given, "If you're sure you won't be uncomfortable, sure, that'd be great. I'll get into bed while you pick us something to watch."

"R-really? Okay." Hinata hadn't stuttered like that in a long time. Again, Kiba assumed it the was the rather awkward situation.

Both women found themselves oddly comfortable with the whole thing once they were finished. Kiba had stolen more than a few glances at Hinata during the encounter, and she almost could've sworn she saw Hinata doing the same to her… but that was probably just wishful thinking. The two of them went to bed content and more than ready for a nice long rest. Their journey to find their long lost friend was nearing a close, and what he'd be like when they finally found him, if that cheery boy who could smile at darkest of times still lived inside of him, was something they would only discover in time. Until then, some well deserved sleep was in order.

* * *

Naruto despised how long it took him to get drunk. Well, tonight he did at least. Most days he had no desire to lower his inhibitions, but every now and again, there was a pain inside him he had to dull. He was feeling just such a pain right then, and it seemed no matter how much whiskey or tequila he downed, it refused to go away. It left him frustrated to no end, "These stupid fucking powers… can't stop fucking and I can't ever get wasted enough to make me okay with it. Such a load of bullshit…"

"Doesn't sound so bad to me," Came a sultry female voice behind him, "Then again, I'm mostly concerned with the carnal side of love, when I actually have it that is. Emotions simply make it messy…"

A voice Naruto had heard once or twice before, it belonged to infamous mutant seductress Emma Frost. Naruto turned to find her blonde hair, piercing ice colored eyes, and revealing white ensemble were all still the same as he'd remembered them. It always puzzled Naruto how she could walk around it what essentially lingerie, though he'd eventually come to assume it was just her mutant powers that let her get away with it. A beautiful package, but one that held vile contents, "Well if it isn't the White Queen? Where's the rest of the Hellfire Club?"

"Back in Boston, helping me keep an eye on the students at the Massachusetts Academy. I'm actually only here on a recruitment mission… and perhaps to screw with Scotty boy and Jeanie bitch while I'm in the neighborhood."

"What sorry soul are you trying to recruit?"

"The daughter of Wolverine."

Naruto scowled at that, the exact reaction Frost had been hoping for. He gave her a murderous glare as he asked, "How'd you find out about her?"

With a shrug, Frost replied, "I'm always keeping an ear to ground when it comes to powerful young mutants. Someone starts ripping people apart with adamantium claws, news about it is bound to get around. Of course I didn't expect her to be traveling with the Ghost Rider, but things never go completely the way we think they will. You being here means you've already dropped her off at the X-Mansion I take it?"

"Yep, you're too late. So do me a favor and get the fuck away from me."

Emma rolled her eyes. Men always did love to act so big and tough around her, but at the end of the day, they all turned to putty in her hands by the time it was over. Then again, Naruto was no ordinary man, "Stop acting like a hard ass, Naruto; you're far too cute for it."

There really was no off switch on Frost. She'd always gotten what she wanted the same way: but using her natural 'gifts' of seduction. Naruto was one of the few they didn't work on, "I'm not acting like anything. I've had a shit day, and I'm not in the mood to sit here and let you try to pile onto it. If you've got agenda, go ahead find somebody else to 'fake fuck' to get it done."

"Fake fuck? That's not bad," Emma said with a chuckle. He was referring to her use of telepathic powers she often used to enter men's minds and make them believe they were spending a night with the legendary Emma Frost. In reality, of course, Emma didn't lay a hand on them. That was a honor she bestowed on few men, "And as I recall, it never really worked on you, did it, Ghost Rider? No, your boss can't have his prized pawn susceptible to something so simple, now can he?"

"Okay, I've had just about enough of this," Naruto said, pushing himself away from the bar standing up, "I said I wasn't in the mood, Emma, and I meant. I'll see your admittedly beautifully shaped ass some other time."

With her target leaving and no other options, Emma decided the best thing she could do would was get to the point, "Would you like to fuck me, Naruto?"

"...what?"

Emma put her hands on her hips and repeated, "Would you like to fuck me? A real fuck, of course. Your powers don't give me an option for much of anything else."

This already didn't sit well with Naruto, "What're you after?"

"I already told you," Emma replied, "I need to get my hands on Wolverine's daughter, and she's too well guarded at the X-Mansion for me to just go charging in there. She might, however, come out if the person who saved her life and brought her to the mansion was to give her an urgent phone call asking for a meet up. Now I won't force her to join us, all I want to do is talk to the girl. You agree to make that happen, and I'll show you why so many men are just dying to have even the smallest taste of what I have to offer."

Most men, or women for that matter, would've broken down in tears at the offer Naruto had just been given. He, however, was silent. For nearly a minute, the young man didn't say a word, not so much a single expression on his body. That was until a small smirk graced his face, "Sure, sounds great. I've got a hotel room nearby. We can head there, get started, and I'll make the call before we actually finish doing the deed."

Frost had never been so surprised to hear a man agreeing to sleep with her. It wasn't even that he'd agreed, persay, but it was how calm he seemed about the whole thing. Naruto was infamous for his loyalty to those he cared about, and it didn't quite add up that he'd turn in X-23 so quickly. Yet, Emma wasn't willing to throw away a chance to have her own Wolverine as her student. That, and she'd heard several times the kid was damn good in bed. So, she just smiled and said, "Wonderful. Come on, let's go see if you can actually make me scream."

* * *

"You son of a bitch," Frost screamed as she thrashed on the hotel bed, "Untie me this instant!"

Naruto couldn't help but laugh at his own handy work. There was Emma Frost, quite possibly the greatest seductress known to man, tied to a bedpost with no means of escape. It really was one hell of a sight, "Nah, I think you look pretty good from where I'm standing. Naked, with unbreakable magic chains on wrists and ankles? What could be better?"

"Why you perverted little-"

"Perverted?" Naruto asked with a laugh, "This doesn't have anything to do with your looks. Far as I'm concerned, this is just payback for all the mutants you've suckeded into coming to your school with your powers and all the men you've faked fucked for your own gains. You've played with people's emotions and screwed em' over plenty of times. How does it feel to be on the receiving end of it?"

If looks could kill, Emma would've evaporated Naruto, "You have no idea what kind of payback is coming for you!"

Naruto shrugged, turned towards the exit, and started to make his way for the door. However, he couldn't help but point out one important detail before he did, "I've got a pretty good nose you know? Can't swear to it, but… between those moans and the smell you were putting off, really seemed like you were more than happy with this deal."

"Bite me," Frost snarled, but the red tint on her cheeks betrayed her.

"The twisted queen of seductresses, left high and dry," Naruto mused. He opened the door and made his final exit, calling back, "Seems pretty fitting to me."

If he'd stuck around, Naruto would've heard several obscenities being thrown his way from Frost. He didn't though, so instead he heard a familiar voice behind him, "That's some solid work in there. I'm almost impressed."

At the sound of Mephisto's voice, a deep scowl came onto Naruto's face, "Your the last person I want praise from."

"Be that as it may, you've got it. You've got yourself some admirers too."

"That why you came here to ruin my night?"

Mephisto, who'd been leaning against the wall of the motel Naruto had just exited, rolled his eyes and took a few step towards his Rider, "You can cut the melodramatic shit, but yes, it's why I came here. These admires are the kind I'd rather you didn't spend much alone time with. We're going to keep you somewhere safe until the whole thing blows over. I just came back from a meeting with some friends of yours who are going to help keep my favorite Rider safe."

"Favorite Rider? What a crock of shit," Naruto grumbled, walking towards his bike in the parking lot, "What friends exactly?"

"The kind you're going to be very happy to see, let's leave it at that. I'll make arrangements to make sure all your needs are taken care of. Find a hotel to stay the night in and I'll tell you in the morning where we've decided where you're going to stay."

Naruto wasn't used to hearing Mephisto sound so… nervous? It was hard to tell, seeing as it was a side the Uzumaki Rider saw so rarely, "We've? You're not the only one calling the shots here? Jesus, Mephisto, what's going on?"

Now it was Mephisto's turn to scowl, "If all goes well, you've never know what all this was about. If there's anything you need, you khow to contact me."

"There's something I need right now, actually," Naruto said through his teeth, "I need to know why you insist on making my life so fucking complicated!"

Mephisto rolled his eyes, "Here we go…"

"Yeah, here we go! I finally found a girl that I was really connecting with, somebody that I saw a fucking future with, and your 'gifts' went and made it impossible! Any other guy could've just done a long distance relationship with Laura, but not me, nope! I've gotta have my pole greased every two or three days just so I can fucking focus on anything!"

Didn't sound that bad to Mephisto, "Yes, having sex every two or three days sounds like a real drag-"

Naruto nearly decked him, "It is, you jackass! I'm fighting with everything I've got to try and start a real relationship, but that's kind of difficult when you break that little piece of information to them! 'Hey, if we date, you'll have to be around and down to fuck at pretty much all times. Hope that's okay.'"

"Don't be so over dramatic. We're talking about sex, a pretty enjoyable act, last time I checked."

"Until you have to do it so often that you become numb to it! It's supposed to be this wonderful, personal thing that helps you connect with a person; not just another chore you have to get done before the day's over! Laura was the first time it's felt real in I can't tell you how long, and now she's gone! I'm honestly starting to think I'm never gonna be able to find anybody to spend my life with! Do you have any idea what it's like to have that taken from you?" Naruto paused and shook his head, "What am I saying? You already know all this. This is exactly the way you wanted me, isn't it? Alone, with no one to turn to but you…"

A smirk came onto Mephisto's face. He slapped his Rider on the back and said, "Don't try to understand my motives, kid. I've thought farther ahead in this game than you can ever imagine. Just shut up and do what I told you to."

Naruto flipped Mephisto the bird before climbing onto his bike. The demon lord paid the gesture no mind, snapping his fingers and vanishing inside a pillar of flame. Had he stayed around a couple of seconds longer, he would've heard Naruto's phone ring. Instead, the Rider had privacy as he pulled his phone from his pocket and answered it, "Hello?"

 _"Naruto? It's me… Laura."_

"Laura? Hey, it's great to hear your voice!"

Laura sounded like she was smiling on the other line, _"Yeah, yours too. Rogue gave me your number and said I should call. I told her Dad wouldn't like it, but she said she could handle him."_

That sounded like Rogue alright. Probably her way of saying thanks for giving her an experience she otherwise would've gone her whole life without. No matter what the reason, Naruto was just happy Laura had called, "That's great. I… well I meant what I said at the X-Mansion. I'm always gonna be in your life, if you'll have me."

 _"Same here,"_ Laura replied, _"I don't really know what we are to each other, but I know I care about you. You got some time to talk?"_

"For you, always. I've gotta get a hotel room, but I'll call back the second I get there and we'll talk for as long as you'd like, okay?"

 _"Sounds like a plan. Talk to you then."_

Laura hung up the phone, leaving Naruto to put own his own, smiling at it, "Well would you look at that… maybe things are starting to look up for me."

If only he knew what was in store for him when he reunited with his old shinobi friends as well…


	7. Where You Belong Pt 1

Here were are once again, ladies and gentlemen. It's time for another chapter of Uzumaki Rider. This will be the last chapter where we see Naruto and the ladies on seperate paths, something that we've been looking forward to since the start of the fanfic. This chapter will feature the last bits of preparations before the forces of the Dark Dimension go into full on war mode. Needless to say, it's going to prove both an interesting reunion for the shinobi and one hell of a battle lying ahead of them. So, without further ado, thank you all so much for reading and be sure to review.

Chapter Soundtrack - Pain: Jimmy Eats World

* * *

"I know it's not the kind of thing you usually hear from someone trying to start a relationship…"

That was understatement Laura couldn't let slide, _"I might not know much about this stuff, but yeah, I'm gonna say a long-distance boyfriend encouraging me to sleep with other people is unusual."_

Naruto half chuckled, half sighed and said, "I'm not exactly happy about it, but were looking at a long distance relationship here, and it wouldn't be fair of me to ask you not to sleep around when we know I'm pretty much gonna have to."

 _"Can't really argue with you there. I um… well, I guess I'll start looking into my options. Not sure where what'll do with them, but it's good to know they're there. Thanks for trying to keep things fair, I guess."_

She was rambling, and Naruto completely understood why; conversations didn't get much more odd than this, "Not saying that you should or shouldn't, I'm just saying is don't feel like you have to stay celibate for my sake."

 _"I get it,"_ Laura replied, impressed by how reasonable he was being about the whole situation, _"Not gonna lie, there are a couple guys around here I've been sneaking some glances at. I've had a couple of girls who've been checking me out too. I'll let you know what happens… you know, without giving you too many details. I've gotta start getting ready for bed. I'll call you in a couple of days, okay?"_

"I look forward to it," Naruto told her. He closed his phone and fell back onto his hotel room bed with a sigh. It would likely be another night of uncomfortable sleep for the Rider, but at least it would be one with some peace of mind. Still in his street clothes, Naruto's exhausted eyes began to shut as he mumbled to himself, "Sweet dreams, Laura…"

* * *

The next morning, Naruto awoke around 10 A.M. and found himself still wearing his sweat soaked clothes from the day before. He jumped out of bed, got himself a nice hot show, and the proceeded to get dressed so he could feed his starved stomach. For a split second, Naruto considered staying where he his boss could stop in and give him a little more information, but with how pissed he was at Mephisto and the fact that the demon lord seemed so distract already, Naruto decided against it.

So, he currently found himself at a small restaurant, a cup of coffee in his hand, and three plates worth of food in front him, ready to dig in. On the first plate was over easy eggs, bacon, and toast, one the second a stack of pancakes, and on the third, biscuits and sausage gravy. Even by Naruto's standards, it was an excessive breakfast, but he was more than hungry enough to handle it, "It ain't ramen, but it'll do!"

"Son of a bitch, it really is you," Came a voice just a few steps behind Naruto, "The flaming asshole returns to New York."

Naruto looked up to see none other than Jessica Jones walking towards him, still rocking her usual long dark hair, black leather jack, and torn to shit jeans. Naruto had come across super strength wheelding PI during on of his previous trips to New York, during which time she'd tried to bash his skull in for reasons Naruto honestly couldn't remember, (he may have collected the soul of someone she was after, but he couldn't say for sure).

She walked over to Naruto's table in the old Mom n' Pop restaurant and sat down in the booth seat across from him. Said restaurant was as simple as could be, with black and white tile floors, mostly white decor, and some sports memorabilia hung up on the walls, but the food was some of the better fair New York had to offer. Honestly, Naruto wasn't sure how the place didn't have more customers.

Although right now he was more concerned with the woman who'd just approached him, "Jessica? The hell are you doing here?"

"Saw you through the window, thought I'd come and mooch breakfast off you. Still get it for free?"

"More or less, yeah," Naruto replied, taking a sip of his coffee, "Nice to see you haven't changed a bit."

Jessica reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a flask, taking a nice big swig before responding, "Don't fuck with perfection, Naruto. You just gonna sit there with your thumb up your ass, or are you gonna flag down a waiter for me?"

"Perfection, eh?" Naruto grumbled. He waved down the waiter, a young man with brown hair who couldn't have been much older than Naruto, and ask him as he approached, "Could you take my friend here's order? Hate to bother you again-"

The young waiter waved off his apology, "It's what I'm here for. What can I get you, miss?"

Jessica didn't need much time to think, "Coffee, black, and a couple breakfast burritos if ya make em'. You know, with eggs, sausage, peppers, all that good shit?"

"We've got something that fits the bill. Anything else?"

"Not unless you serve tequila this early."

With a nod, the young waiter returned to the kitchen and left Naruto and Jessica by themselves. Naruto began to dig into his food, knowing Jessica would've done the same if the roles were reversed, and continued the conversation, "So, what's got New York's favorite PI out and about this early?"

"Typical 'wife thinks her husband's sticking it to a 20-something' bullshit. How about you? Been awhile since you've been on the east coast."

That was when the waiter came back with Jessica's coffee, giving Naruto a second to think of the best way to sum up why he was here. By the time the waiter was gone, he'd come up with something, "Started out as a trip for a friend; turned into drive through fury road for a new lover."

"You might be the only person in the world whose got more ex-lovers than Luke."

Naruto chuckled at the mention of his old friend, "Yeah, he used to get around back in the day. I wasn't there for most of it, but if the stories are true…" Naruto realized finishing that story probably wasn't the best idea in front of the man's current love. He wasn't in mood for a super powered kick to the balls at the moment. "Doesn't matter. He's a family man these day. How is Danielle anyways?"

Reaching into her coat pocket, Jessica pulled out her phone and found the most recent pictures she had with her girl. The first one she showed Naruto was of her and Luke holding little Danielle together, "That's her last week. She's just shy of a six years old now."

The Rider smiled at his phone then glanced back over at his friend, "She's beautiful, Jessica.

"No shit, sherlock," Jessica fried back before tucking her phone into her pocket. "Long as you're here, you mind helping me track down the cheater? He's been harder to find than I'm used to. I'm getting a bad feeling about the whole thing. I can probably handle it myself, but if you're around, why the fuck not tag along?"

Naruto knew better than to believe that, "If you want me to stick around and buy you food all day, just fucking ask me."

"Eh, Luke said I should try and have more 'tact' when I'm talking to people. Always thought tact was when you pushed an asshole against a wall and choke em' out until they talk, but apparently that's not okay when you've got a kid."

"Fair enough," Naruto said, taking a great big gulp of his coffee, "So, you wanna spend the day tracking down assholes and eating good shit? I'm game. Could use a day like that to keep my mind off my kinda-sorta-girlfriend that I'm probably not gonna see for months."

The waiter returned to the table with Jessica's meal before she could respond. He delivered the two burritos she'd been promised and refilled her and Naruto's cups. Jessica licked her lips, picked up the first burrito, and told her friend, "Don't need you whole life story, Uzumaki. Just eat your food so we can get to crack some skulls together."

Now there was a comand Naruto was happy to follow. He lifted up his cup of coffee once again and found that waiter had slipped something underneath it after the last refill. It was a small slip of paper with the waiter's number written on it. Naruto's head fell and he sighed, "Geeze, I knew that guy was looking at my funny…"

"Life of a Rider. Can't turn off your sex appeal, even when you want to. Hit's both genders HARD. Maybe you should swinging-"

"Not my style, and you know it," Naruto cut her off. He sighed, tucked the number way in his pocket, and returned to his food. Right now, the only thing he wanted to focus on was food and the potential for some good old fashioned ass kicking. Everything else could wait.

* * *

Tracking down the cheating husband proved to be less interesting than Naruto had been hoping for, but it was still a decent way to spend the day. The husband, a forty year old balding stockbroker, started his day out going to work, got lunch around noon, and went out occasionally to smoke himself a cigarette. Nothing super exciting, but Naruto and Jessica got their kicks people watching and letting the other run off to get some decent coffee or food. It wasn't until around 5:00 PM that the stockbroker left work and flagged down a taxi. Jessica had been told he usually wasn't home until 7:00 PM, so she knew this had to when he was off doing things he didn't want his wife to know about.

Naruto and Jessica followed the man's cab to location just a few miles from where they'd been before. He left the cab and entered an old shop that had to have been closed for a least a couple of years by the look of it. Yet, the stockbroker had a key for the seemingly abandoned place, so he proceeded to march right in without hesitation.

"Looks like we found his 'funhouse,'" Naruto said, his eyes locked on the shop, "How long before this 20-something shows up?"

"How the fuck should I know?" Jessica asked back, "Could be a few minutes, could be a couple hours, or it could take all night. Hope you brought a jar to piss in."

The joke, or at least what Naruto hoped was a joke, was ignored in favor of some more serious conversation, "Gotta say, thought you'd give this kinda life up after you had a kid. There's nothing wrong with it, just figured you'd want something that's got a normal schedule."

Jessica didn't respond with her usual quick wit. It didn't seem like she was lacking a response. No, she just needed to find the right words for the one she did have, "There's lots of shit in my life that's changing lately. It's nice to get out and do something that feels natural every once and while."

"Yeah, I think I must've had ramen about ten times a week when I first got here," Naruto replied. Jessica's face suggested she didn't she the connection, so Naruto explained, "That was my main source of food back home. People like routines. Makes em' think they're in control."

Control? The word was enough to make Jessica roll her eyes, "Control is bullshit. Life is a never ending shitstorm of chaos, and the best we can ever do is roll with the punches."

Naruto nodded in agreement, but couldn't resist adding in, "That your excuse for not marrying Luke yet too?"

"People don't have to get married just because they fuck, live together, and have a kid."

"The the only thing that description is missing is a wedding ring."

Jessica rolled her eyes, "Because a wedding ring is permanent. It means I can't ever get rid of Luke without a whole lot of messy shit that I don't wanna go through, or put Danielle through."

Her words were firm, but her eyes betrayed her, "You leaving Luke, huh? That's what you're worried about?"

"I'm not saying he might not be the one who leaves me… lord knows I wouldn't put up with my own crap," Jessica admitted, her voice almost trembling, "There's things I need to deal with before I'm gonna tempt fate with something like a ring, okay?"

Naruto could see what started as some good natured ribbing was starting to cut a little deeper than he'd meant it to, "Hey, it's your life; you know how to live better than anybody else. Don't let some dumbass with a flaming skull and restless dick get to ya."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Jessica said with a laugh. For all his faults, Naruto was a good friend to have around.

They decided to let silence take over after that. Right about then, a little bit of nothing sounded nice. Less than two minutes later, a young woman in skimpy clothes walked into the shop. There were massive windows on either side of the shop, which was going to make Jessica's life that much easier.

"Hell of a place to have an affair," Jessica remarked as she pulled up her camera. Both she and Naruto were on the roof of an apartment building across the street, giving them a perfect angle to view what was going down.

Naruto watched as Jessica pointed her camera at the shop, paused, and then lowered it back down. The Rider didn't have enough experience to know what could be going on, "Bad lighting?"

"No, it's just…" Jessica began, racking her brains to try and find the right words, "I haven't been able to get a read on this guy for over a week. He leaves work, gets into a black car with tinted windows, takes way longer than he needs to get home, and that's about it. I almost considered punching the windows in to see if there was somebody blowing in him the backseat, cause that's only time he would've had to cheat on his wife. Now he just magically pops up at some shop I've never heard of and his bimbo comes marching in after him in plain site? I don't buy it."

Once Naruto had all the facts, neither did he, "What do you wanna do?"

Jessica stood up before answer, "I promised you some excitement, right? I say we go in there, bust some heads together, and see what we come up with."

"A woman after my own heart... don't tell Luke I said that. Come on; let's go see if we can't get him thinking with the right head."

The two heroes jumped down from the roof, unscaved of course, and made their way over to the shop. They found the forty year old and his supposed lover sucking face through the window for the whole world to see. Jessica shook her head, "Oh yeah, these two would totally be able to hide an affair. Did somebody actually think I was gonna buy this? It's fucking giftwrapped."

Jessica reached the door, kicked it off its hinges, and waltzed right in while the door went flying through the room. Both the stockbroker and his little girlfriend were shocked to say the least, but Jessica had been careful to make sure the door would fly above their head and not do any serious damage to the people she needed to question. The stockbroker was the first to speak, "Hey! The hell do you think you're doing? This is private property!"

"I'm aware, Mr… Lee, is it?" Jessica said, doubling checking a notepad she kept in her pocket, "And I also know that you're supposedly sleeping with this bimbo over here. Normally I'd be able to buy that. Just figure she's the kind of person who'll spread her legs for anyone whose willing to buy her enough shit."

"Hey!" Cried the, as Jessica called her, 'bimbo.'

"Oh pipe down," Jessica cut her off. "You know it's true. But you, Mr. Lee, seem like you should be smarter than this. Plenty of successful people are assholes, but they aren't this dumb, so why don't you tell me what you're actually trying to hide from your wife with this bullshit affair."

Lee went pale, "Hey! Leave my wife out of this! Is that what you're here for? You gonna try and extort money outta me for doin' what guys do? Fine! What's your price?"

That earned a face palm from Naruto, "And he just completely gave himself away."

"Um...huh?" Lee had the blankest possible look on his face.

Jessica knew what Naruto was getting at, "We already figured out this whole thing was staged. Thought it was for your wife until you offered me money. You want my ass as far away from what you're doing as possible. If I'd taken some pictures handed em' off to your wife, this whole thing would already be over. But I confronted you, so now you're trying to wave some money in face hoping that'll work instead. I'm not leaving, so just tell me what all this shit's about before I decide to grab you by balls and make sure you can't ever cheat on your wife for real, hm?"

A hell of a threat, and yet, Lee didn't flinch, "Lady, I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Sure you don't," Jessica said in an even tone. She walked over to the stockbroker and looked him eye, trying to scare him. Imagine her surprise when she was the one whose blood ran cold. There was a look in Lee's eyes, a look that Jessica had seen enough to time to know she should fear it, "Naruto! Get over here, now!"

Naruto jumped right to it, not used to hearing her speak in the that tone, "What's up?"

"Look into this asshole's eyes. Tell me what you see."

An odd request, but one Naruto would fulfill. The eyes were certainly human, but Jessica was right. Something was off about them. It didn't seem like he was looking at anyone, more as if he was looking through them, "He's not conscious right now. I mean, he is but he isn't. Someone else his in control of his brain."

Jessica scowled, grabbing Naruto by the arm and yanking him out of the room before he could say anything else, "That's what I though. Do me a favor, Lee; tell Killgrave I said he could fuck off!"

* * *

"Jess, hold up," Luke said as he watched his girlfriend tear through their bedroom, stuffing every shred of clothes that she could into duffle bag, "What makes you so sure this is Killgrave?"

It was a good thing Luke had impenetrable skin, because Jessica didn't hesitate to use her strength when she threw the duffle bag at him. She wasn't angry with him, she was just in one hell of a hurry, "I know that look, Luke! I've got no clue what his game is, but he's knows I'm on his trail. I've got him scared, and when he's scared, he turns into one sadistic son of a bitch! I need you and Danielle to get as far away from me as you possibly can! If anything happened to either of you-"

Luke grabbed Jessica mid-sentence, forcing her to look him in the eye, "Slow down. I'm not arguing with you."

"You're… wait, you're not?"

Her surprise got a laugh out of her lover. Luke Cage, the nearly six and half foot tall superhero with a bald head and body like a brick house, chuckled and pulled Jessica into a hug, which she happily returned. She'd been expecting an argument, a big one at that, but Luke seemed to be going with the flow and she didn't know what to make of it. The two of them were standing in bedroom they shared, with an all wood interior and eggshell white walls. Their bed frame was broken, but that wasn't an uncommon occurrence, or what they were focused on at the moment. No, that honor belonged to the matter of Killgrave, and how he affected the lives of Luke and Daniella.

"Jess, you know when it's about Killgrave, I leave it to you," Luke whispered to her, "Last thing we need your bulletproof boyfriend getting a psychopath in his head again. I just need you to tell me what's going on."

"I ended up tailing one of Killgrave's recent victims. Don't know if it was coincidence or not, but he found out and he wants me off his trail. His powers don't affect me or Naruto, so I'm gonna finish him before he can go back into hiding again. I want you to take Danielle and keep her safe until I know that bastard can't hurt anyone ever again. He almost kidnapped her once, I'm not letting him get that close again."

Luke took all of this in and gave a brief nod. Killgrave was a criminal with the ability to control minds who harbored a sick obsession for Jessica, mostly thanks to the fact that she'd been the only one to break free of his control. He'd violated Jessica more than once during the brief period he did have control of her, and now saw her as something akin to his property. It was only logical that'd he'd be jealous of Luke and the child he shared with Jessica. Danielle had almost fallen into his hands once, but Jessica had gotten ahold of him and nearly managed to kill the bastard once in for all. Yet, he managed to slip away at the last second, just like the slimy little weasel that was, and he'd been in hiding ever since.

Now that he as back, there was no way in hell Luke was letting him get that close to his daughter once again, "Alright. I'll go back Danielle a bag. You'd better give her one hell of a good bye. You know how she gets when mommy's away for too long."

Indeed she did. Jessica was about to have one unhappy girl on her hands…

* * *

Said little girl was currently sitting in the living room, which had the same decor scheme as the bedroom, with Naruto beside her on an old grey couch. The Rider had never met the girl before, and unsurprisingly, she was proving herself quite entertaining, "Hold up, what did your mommy and daddy break last night?"

"Their bed… again," Danielle replied, chipper as ever, "They break it all the time when they're wrestling."

Naruto tried to fight back a snicker, "Yeah, I'd bet the two of them break all kinds of things when they're 'wrestling.'"

"Nearly took down the whole damn building on my birthday last year," Jessica piped in as she entered the room, "Worth it, though."

Like a tiny missile, Daniella shot up and sprinted over to Jessica, "Mommy!"

Jessica scooped her up and pulled her daughter into a tight hug, "Hey, Dani! How's my girl doing?"

"Good. I was telling Naruto about all the stuff you and daddy break."

"They don't really make things that can stand up to me or your daddy, do they?" Jessica asked, to which the little girl shook her head, "We'll manage though. Speaking of daddy, how would you like to go on a little trip with him?"

Danielle was about to once agains prove how smart she was for her age, "Why just daddy?"

Oh sure, that's the part she picked up on. Jessica knew better than to try lying, so she said the closest thing she could to the truth, "Mommy's got something really important she needs to do for work and she'd feel better if you and daddy were off doing something else. I'm really sorry, sweetie, but I promise we'll do something fun when I get back. That sound okay?"

"Can uncle Danny be the who me and daddy visit."

"Sure, long as it's okay with daddy."

Speak of the devil, Luke was walking out with a bag for Daniella and himself just as Jessica said that, "I'm sure Danny'd be happy to see us. Sounded like things were pretty slow at Rand Industries last time I talked to him."

Naruto realized right then who they were talking about, "Wait, you know Danny Rand? As in the billionaire CEO of rand industries, secretly the Immortal Iron fist? That Danny Rand? How'd you meet him?"

"Same way I met you," Luke replied with a smirk.

That smirk was happily returned by Naruto, "So you two had a disagreement that nearly took down a city block until someone stepped in and told you stupid you were being?"

"Damn straight. I take it you've met him."

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, while he was running around as the Iron Fist. I was collecting the souls of some Hand assassins and we ended up accidently fighting side by side. Lost his mask at one point, but I promised Danny I'd keep my mouth shut."

"Good man," Luke said with a nod. He walked over to the Jessica and held his free arm out to Danielle, "Time to go, sweetie. Mommy's got work to do."

That she did, but she was going to get another giant huge from Daniella before she started it, "I love you, mommy. Come back soon!"

Jessica returned the hug, wishing to God that she didn't have to let the little girl go, "I love you too, baby. I'll be home before you know it."

"Stay safe, Jess," Luke cut in as his daughter climbed into his arm. He gave his lover a brief kiss before whispering to her, "I love you."

"Love you too."

That was the last thing Luke said before he head towards the door left the apartment. Naruto and Jessica were all alone now, and the former had only one thing on his mind, "So what's next?"

Jessica didn't hesitate to reply, "We take out Killgrave. I'm gonna give Danny a quick call, tell him to make sure nobody followed Luke and Daniella, and ask him to get everyone somewhere Killgrave can't find them. He's got the money to do it. Once that's done, all bets are off."

"Sounds like a plan. You should probably stay at my hotel tonight. If Killgrave knows your on his trail, he might send somebody after you. We could both use a good night's sleep before we get into this shitshow."

There'd be no argument from Jessica. She wanted all the rest she could get before facing down Killgrave again. Jessica grabbed herself some booze from the fridge, (for a family fridge, it had more alcohol than apple juice), and followed Naruto out of the apartment.

* * *

Mephisto couldn't have been much more furious with Naruto when he got back his hotel room. He'd been sitting on the bed when Naruto walked in, having just finished getting Jessica her room, and the rider was by no means any happier than his boss.

"This is two nights in a row where your face is the last one I see before I go to bed," Naruto groaned, tossing his coat onto the floor, "Can't you just call me? If you call me, I've got the option to hang up."

"Shut up," Mephisto ordered, his eyes filled with the kind of fire he'd been born from, "I've had enough of your insubordination for today. I came here three hours ago, thinking that maybe you'd just stepped out for some air or food. After the first fifteen minutes, I decide to check where you'd gone. Don't ask me how; I'm not in the mood for your questions! Imagine my surprise when I find running with some fucking PI for no good reason!"

Naruto didn't even look at Mephisto. Just walked past him to get straight to the mini-fridge, "I take care of my friends, Mephisto."

That wasn't good enough, "Your friends can fuck off until I say otherwise! From here on out, you're not leaving my site!"

"Is that right?"

Mephisto had already been getting tired of this kid's attitude, but this was unacceptable, "You ungrateful brat! I save your life, give you powers beyond your wildest dreams, and now you're gonna fuck us both just to be petty with me? Do you know what's at stake here?"

Grabbing out one of the waters he'd brought with him, (this was the kind of place with a mini-fridge you stocked yourself), Naruto took a few solid gulps before turning to his boss. He took his sweet time while doing so, just to twist the knife even more, "Oh, so this whole thing has the potential to do more than just lose you one of your pawns. That explains why you're actually giving a fuck for once."

"For once? Do have any idea how good I've been to you?"

"Oh please," Naruto scoffed. "You do what you need to to keep me in line, and not by much! Have you even started looking for Kurama yet?"

All these questions! Who did this kid think he was? "I've done plenty to try and find her! More than you've done; I can promise ya that! And if you want me to keep doing anything for you, you'll shape the fuck up and start doing what I say!"

Naruto stood his ground, "I'm going with Jessica tomorrow. She's my friend and she needs my help. There's nothing else to it."

"You would dare disobey me?" Mephisto asked, his eyes turning red. Those eyes soon began to glow, with cracks of the same color growing from the their corners. Mephisto's demonic form poking through his outer shell. His voice grew loud enough to shake the entire room, though his tone reminding calm as ever. It was as if someone had put a megaphone up to his mouth, one with a demonic power inside of it, "IT SEEMS YOU'VE FORGOTTEN YOUR PLACE, RIDER. ALLOW ME TO REMIND YOU."

Pain shot through Naruto's entire body. An intense, pulsing pain that felt as though millions of tiny creature were trying to burrow their way out of Naruto's body, tearing his flesh, crushing his bones, ripping his skin. It was beyond anything any mortal could comprehend. Naruto fell to his knees and cried out to the world around him, "No! Aaaahhhh! Make it, ah, stop!"

There was elegance that came with Mephisto's new found calmness, "OH I WILL, RIDER, I MOST CERTAINLY WILL. BUT FIRST YOU MUST ASSURE ME THAT YOU KNOW YOUR PLACE. WHO IS THAT GIVES YOU YOUR POWERS, RIDER? TO WHOM DO YOU OWE YOUR LIFE?"

"You, Mephisto!"

"INDEED. AND WHEN I GIVE YOU AN ORDER, WHAT ARE YOU TO DO?"

"Carry it out!"

"EXCELLENT. THEN WALK OVER HERE AND RUN YOUR TONGUE ALONG MY BOOT!"

Naruto couldn't believe what he'd just heard, "What? GAH!"

At his question, Mephisto had turned up the intensity, "ARE YOU QUESTIONING ME, RIDER?"

"N-no, Mephisto," Naruto managed to struggle out. It took everything Naruto had, but he worked through the pain and crawled over to Mephisto. At that point, he would've given anything for the pian to stop. He hated himself in that moment, but Naruto had no choice. He stuck out his tongue and did as he was told, licking Mephisto's boot while the bastard smiled over him. Slowly but surely, the pain did begin to fade, and Naruto felt his body relax.

"Remember this, Naruto," Mephisto said, his voice returning to normal. The brat was on his knees in front of him, shame in his eyes, "This is your place. Forget it again, and I won't be so kind."

Naruto would've given anything to strangle Mephisto to death in the moment. There was nothing he could do though, so he simply stood up and walked back to his water bottle, intent on washing the taste leather from his mouth. He spoke in a much softer tone now, "I promised Jessica I'd help her tomorrow…"

Now that it didn't sound as though he was being ordered around, Mephisto was happy to reply, "If the new friends I've wrangled up for you are here tomorrow, I might be willing to let you go. I need to know you'll have protection. Sleep, and be ready to wake up early when they arrive. That's all… for now."

"Fine, I'll see you-" Naruto began, but didn't get anywhere close to finishing before Mephisto walked over to him, snatched the half full water bottle from his hand, and proceeded to leave the room without so much as a goodbye. Naruto could only stand there, humiliated, "...tomorrow."

* * *

After yet another long day of riding towards their mystery destination, (they'd begun their journey in Canada and were now somewhere in a place called New York), Mephisto claimed the group had only one day left before they would be reunited with their old shinobi comrade. Whether or not he was telling the truth was impossible to know, but with how urgently he had them moving, it seemed more likely than usual.

After checking in with their boss one last time for the night, Hinata and the trio checked into their hotel so they could get some sleep. This time the the hotel was out of double bed rooms, so Hinata and Kiba would have to share one. Neither of them seemed to mind it as much as the other had been expecting.

Hinata currently found herself walking back to the room with a second key card in hand, one that desk clerk had been too busy filtering with Akamaru to realize she'd forgotten to give it them. A minor pain, but nothing to get in a major twist over. With everything back in order, Hinata opened the door to her room, ready to get some sleep for the night… only to find Kiba sitting on the bed naked with the remote in hand. Although startled, Hinata managed to keep her voice steady as she asked, "Why the hell are you naked?"

"Because unlike some of us, I don't like wearing clothes when I watch porn." Kiba replied, her eyes not leaving the screen.

"That's just so I can quickly cover up if I'm interrupted." Hinata defended her quirk before asking, "Why are you even watching some if you know we have to share the bed."

"Because if my little bro can charm his way to a separate room with the prospect of getting laid, I refuse to let him be the only one getting off tonight." Kiba glanced over at Hinata's concerned face, then said with a sigh, "Guess it'd be probably be better if I did this in the shower, huh?"

Hinata thought for a moment, then replied, "No, I still need to take a shower anyways. As long as you clean up after yourself, I guess it's fine." She walked over to where her friend layed and gave her a small pat on the head, "There really is no taming you, is their Kiba?"

She leaned down as if she was going to kiss Kiba's forehead, then stopped herself. Something inside Hinata compelled her to aim somewhere a little more person. Without thinking, Hinata brought her mouth down and pressed to Kiba's. For a brief second their lips captured one another.

Just as quickly the spell was broken, Hinata's eyes quickly opening as she sat up and quickly apologized, "S-sorry Kiba-chan… it's just… well our kiss from the other day felt so much different than the one at the wedding. I just wanted to see if it still felt that way..."

"Hinata," Kiba began as she sat up, "it did."

With surprising speed Kiba pulled her friend down to the bed and laid on top of her, capturing the Hyuga's lips with a hunger that had previously been absent. The two woman focus shifted entirely onto each other. Hinata didn't know how to react, but admittedly enjoyed the kiss and let it continue, until she felt her friend's fingers slide down into her pants

"Woah! Hold on," Hinata said, barely able to pull herself away, "What're we doing?"

Kiba could only think of one way to answer that question, "I love you, Hinata. Not as my best friend or as my fake wife. I love you with every fiber of my being and want to be with you in every sense of the word. You've been by my side for almost my entire life, and I need to show you how much that means to me. I mean it, Hinata… I LOVE YOU!"

It should've taken Hinata a second to register what Kiba was saying, but without hesitation, she replied, "I love you too. Everything you've just said, it's like you're reading my mind. I… I think I still want to try things with Naruto too-"

"Oh believe me, there's a whole lot of shit I'd like to try with Naruto."

Hinata couldn't contain her laughter, more of a burst of nervous energy than anything else. She looked down at her friend, no, the person she was married to, and told her, "I know it won't be simple relationship, but if you feel the same way I do, I'm more than willing to give this thing a try. What do you say?"

A mischievous smirk graced Kiba's face, "Why tell you when I can show you?"

"Woah-," Hinata screamed out as Kiba twisted and threw her 'wife' onto the bed. Next thing Hinata knew, Kiba was on top of her and ripping her clothes off. If the look in her soon to be lover's eyes were any indication, things were about to get pretty intense for Hinata, "Uh-oh…"

* * *

What followed was hours of pleasure filled cries, many rounds of the lovers 'returning the favor' for each other, and more than a few noise complaints from the rooms around Hinata and Kiba. There was little left on each other's bodies that lovers hadn't gotten a taste of, and by the time two hours had passed, both of them were beyonded satisfied.

"Wow…" Hinata said, panting, "Just… wow."

The two of them were lying next to each other on the bed, their bodies covered by a thin sheet. Kiba was panting just as hard as Hinata was, a goofy grin on her face, "Hehe… guess it's true. You really do taste, sweet, Hinata-chan."

"Shut up," Hinata said with a gentle shove, "And I thought we were trying to drop the suffixes."

Kiba shrugged, "Force of habit. My mind's still all sex-fogged. So… what now?"

"Well, we're definitely doing THAT again-"

"Duh, it goes without saying."

Hinata laughed and took another few moments to think, "And we keep things going like normal until we find Naruto."

"Speaking of Naruto, what're we gonna do when we actually find him?" Kiba asked. "We've both got an interest in him. If it's cool with him, I say we share him. Naruto's probably got the same 'problem' we do anyways, so having a little group might make things easier on everybody. Course we'll have to decide who gets dibs on him first and-"

A firm hand was place over Kiba's mouth before she could finish. Hinata was too tired for this conversation, "You're talking about bridges we haven't even reached yet, Kiba. We'll figure out all that stuff once we get to it. There's only one question I really need you to answer right now… big spoon or little spoon?"

"I'd be crazy not to test out the pillows." Kiba joked.

Hinata responded to the comment with a playful pinch to Kiba's nipple. She rolled her eyes she smiled as she settled in behind her newfound lover, "Save it for Naruto-kun you horn dog."

"Yes, mistress." Kiba replied. She never had been able to pass up a dirty joke…

* * *

When morning came, Naruto awoke to the same thought he'd fallen asleep to the night before; last night had been one of the worst of his entire life. He'd had his rough patches in the Hidden Leaf, but never before had he felt that powerless. It was something he didn't know if he could bare to feel again. Hopefully that feeling would fade from his mind as time went on, but he wasn't optimistic.

Naruto heard the knocking at his door only seconds after he'd woken up. It was probably Mephisto or Jessica, and Naruto wasn't sure which he wanted to talk to less at that moment. Yet, he got up and threw on some clothes as quickly as he could anyways, well aware that answering wasn't optional.

He heard the second knock once he was all nice and clothed. Naruto sighed and walked over to the door, certain that what awaited for him on the other side was going to be painful. Whether or not he was right, only time would tell...


	8. Where You Belong Pt 2

Hello to all our readers! Hope you're ready, cause it's time for another chapter of Uzumaki Rider. This is the first chapter where we'll see Naruto and Hinata/Kiba's storylines bleeding into one another, and it's gonna be fun. We'll be picking up right where we left off last chapter, with Naruto answering the door. There'll also be a couple of brief flashbacks in this chapter, just enough to give you guys an idea certain things the pre-date the start of the story. Based on some responses, it seems the bit with Mephisto last chapter may have threw some of you off, so we're going to quickly cover that too. Anyways, let's get to it. Thank you all so much for reading and be sure to leave a review.

Chapter Soundtrack: David Bowie - Lazarus

* * *

Naruto wasn't sure who he'd been expecting to see on the other side of the door, and yet, he was still shocked to find a well groomed, middle aged man in a fine purple suit standing before. Without thinking, Naruto's hand shot forward and he grabbed the man by the throat before he could get out so much as a word, "Killgrave. Didn't know you had a fucking deathwish, but I'm happy to accommodate. Just let me go get Jessica and we'll get started."

"G-gah! Hey Naruto, nice to see you too," Killgrave said with his regal British accent. This was far from the first time he'd been in such a position, "I know you want to kill me, but I really think it'd be best for everyone if you held that thought."

Only two sentences in, and Killgrave had already managed to get Naruto's blood boiling, "You bastard! You did again, didn't you?"

Killgrave wore a demented grin on his face that he'd perfected over the years. Jessica hadn't been lying about his sadistic side, "Come on, old boy. You know I never go anywhere without a little insurance…"

* * *

 _The first time Naruto had come across Killgrave's form of 'insurance' was a few years ago, when Killgrave had attempted to kidnap Jessica's daughter. It had been a hell of a showdown, but Naruto and Jessica had the mind manipulating son of a bitch on the ropes, and zero intention of letting him escape. Jessica didn't make a habit out of taking someone's life, but when it came to Killgrave, she'd always been willing to make an exception._

 _"How does it feel, asshole?" Jessica asked Killgrave as he crawled away from her by a set of docks on the outskirts of New York, "Years and years of making people do whatever sick, depraved shit you could think of! How does it feel to have the shoe on the other foot?"_

 _Killgrave was bloody, beaten, and bruised, not to mention enraged. If things had gone like they were supposed to, he'd have Jessica's little brat in his arms right now, using her to make sure Jessica NEVER disobeyed him again! But no matter how many people Killgrave tried to control or how intricatly he'd planned, Jessica, her damned lover boy, and the Ghost Rider had found a way around it. So here he was, crawling on the pavement like some filthy animal!_

 _They would all pay for this! Killgrave would see to that if it took the rest of his life! But he needed to be alive to make that happen, so for now, he'd make a hasty retreat. It was time for him to pull out that last ace from his sleeve, "Both of you, get out here! Now!"_

 _"Don't bluff, Killgrave," Naruto growled, twirling his chain in the air, "We cleared this whole block, and those cops you brought with you were out cold before they could do anything you said. You're fucked!"_

 _"Oh really? Then who're they?"_

 _There was a small boat roughly 25 yards ahead of them on the dock. One of many that Naruto and Jessica had largely ignored, until two children, probably no more than 12 years old, walked out of it. Both had knives held up to their own throats, vacant looks filling their eyes. Jessica was practically fantasizing about the feeling of Killgrave's neck snapping in her hands at that point, "You're really into fucking with kids today, aren't ya?"_

 _Killgrave stood up, brushed himself off, and proceeded to walk towards the boat, "I'm into surviving, Jessica. But you already knew that, didn't you? We'll have to finish this little tango some other time. You'll do what I say one day, Jessica. I'll find a way to make my powers work on you again, and no 'traumatic experience' or special powers are ever going to break you free! All I'll need to do is make sure your little rider friends isn't around. Until then, farewell my dear! Oh, and a friendly reminders, if anyone so much as comes near me before I'm out of range, things won't end well for the little ones."_

 _"When do things ever end well for people around you?" Jessica asked. She could only watch as Killgrave disappeared below the deck of his boat. The weasel had found his way out once again, but he couldn't run forever._ _He'd always been a coward, but one day she'd get him cornered, and when she did..._ _well, Jessica hoped that the pain he'd caused would be returned to him ten fold._

* * *

Killgrave had walked away with the same shit eating grin on his face that day that he wore now with Naruto's hand wrapped around his throat, "I've got a hitman with sniper rifle set up in a park in a location I'm sure as hell not gonna tell you. Told him I don't call to check in after half an hour, he's free to pick off anyone he likes. Payed him and everything. Didn't want to risk you finding some way around my 'persuasive tongue.'"

With a grumble, Naruto let Killgrave drop to the ground below, "Always hated smart bastards. The two don't mix well."

"Well you would know, wouldn't you? More to the point though, I'm not here for a fight. I know you and Jessica found out about the stockbroker I've been ordering around, and I'm sure she's even more eager than you are to see me six feet under."

Naruto was grinding his teeth, "I wouldn't be so sure."

"We'll find out someday… but not today. Jessica isn't my target right now, and if she goes after me, she'll find herself and everybody see loves in a shit storm the likes of which you've never seen. This is just a friendly warning, old boy. Nothing more."

Friendly wasn't the word Naruto would've used, "So what? If we don't go along, you'll have your hitmen take out random pedestrians?"

Killgrave scoffed at such a thought, "And waste more of my money? As if! No, if you don't go along, Jessica can kiss her precious family goodbye-"

"We've already stashed them somewhere safe-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know you think Luke and Jessica are safe as long as Rand's got ahold of them, but really, where's that rich prick going to but them that me and my new friends can't find?"

That finally got Naruto to shut up. He'd really figured it out that quickly? And who were these new friends Killgrave was talking about? Naruto didn't know, and that's what scared him. What he needed was for Killgrave to be scared too, "If they get hurt, there's no crack or crevice in the entire universal that'll be able to hide your ass from me!"

If that scared Killgrave, he didn't show it, "I've heard that speech plenty of times from plenty of people. There isn't much left for you to bring to the table on it. Just relay my message to Jessica and her family, would you? Thanks, you're a real peach."

"Sure, I'll give her the message," Naruto growled, grabbing Killgrave by the shoulder as he tried to turn around and vanish once more, "But first, I've got a message for you, and all your buddies! Tell em' the Ghost Rider's coming, and when he arrives, every sin they've committed against their fellow man will be cast upon them. There's an afterlife, Killgrave, and isn't too kind to people like you."

Now THAT one had Killgrave shaken, though he tried to conceal it. He brushed off Naruto's hand and replied, "Which is exactly why I'm going to make sure I'm not anywhere near it in the foreseeable future. Pisss off!"

Killgrave turned and left the hotel room with whatever dignity he had left. After the kind of night Naruto had just had, it felt pretty good making somebody piss their pants again. He shut the door behind him and grabbed his cellphone of his bedside table. There was a call that needed to be made, even if Naruto dreaded so much as hearing the voice he was about to. The phone rang several times before that twisted voice popped up on the other end, _"Hello?"_

"Mephisto? It's Naruto; something just came up."

 _"Why are you calling me when you've a card that'll let us communicate without any phone or cell service bullshit?"_

The card Mephisto was referring to the was the same card he used to wake Naruto up when he had a new job for him. It was capable of allowing them to speak telepathically, something Naruto had zero interest in this particular morning, "You being in my head last night was enough for one lifetime, even though I can almost guaran-fucking-tee you're gonna do it again. It's my friends. Shits hitting the fan worse than I thought and there's no way in hell I can keep my nose outta this. You wanna chew my ass out when you see me again, then do it… but you'll have to come here and sit on my ass 24/7 if you wanna stop me."

There was no response on the other line for some time. What Mephisto was thinking, Naruto couldn't really say. Maybe he was genuinely pondering something, or maybe he just wanted to make Naruto sweat a bit. Either way, it was a while before he finally replied, _"Keep your card with you and active so I can teleport to you whenever I might need. If you have even a hint that something's wrong, get the fuck out. Agree to all that and ask me NICELY, and you're free to go."_

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Naruto asked back, already aware he was going to end up saying it. "Dammit… alright. Mephisto, may I go out today and make sure my friends don't end up dead in a ditch somewhere?"

 _"When you put it like that, how can I say no?"_

Naruto rolled his eyes so hard Mephisto could hear it through the phone, "Thanks, asshole."

With that, the Rider hung up his phone. Mephisto had already gotten what he wanted, so Naruto knew he wouldn't give shit about anything said afterwards. The next thing that needed to be done was calling Jessica to tell her what the situation. She'd flip out, and with good reason, so Naruto would try and keep her calm by telling her he'd keep an eye on her family while she investigated. Jessica would say she could take care of her family herself, which was true, but between her and Naruto, she was by far the better investigator, and Jessica would realize that too. From there, it would just be a waiting game, and one Naruto wasn't eager to play.

That night before had taken a lot out of him, and brought back some memories he wasn't to fond. Memories from years ago, the first time he'd found out the full extend of the contract that his bound to in heart and soul…

* * *

 _It had been about two years after Naruto had arrived in his new dimension, in some old forest Mephisto had brought him to train in. He and Mephisto had been arguing about when the latter was finally going to find Kurama liked he'd promised, a fight the two had often, and Naruto had stepped over the line in some fashion that he couldn't recall. The only thing he really remembered about that fight had been the sensation he felt when Mephisto finally snapped._

 _That same ripping, crushing, unbearable feeling that Naruto had felt in the hotel. He wished he could put into words the kind of pain it caused him, but articulating pain like that seemed impossible. All Naruto could say for certain was that it brought him to his knees, crying out like a pig in the middle of being gutted, just begging for it to end. His body was literally smoking by the end of it. Only five words were able to sum up how he felt._

 _"What… the fuck… was THAT?"_

 _Mephisto was standing over him, triumphant as ever, "A side-effect of your contract. Remember, I own every cell in your body, and your power comes from ME. Not exactly difficult to turn the fires of hell against you, Rider."_

 _"You… you can do that whenever you want?"_

 _"And for as long as I want. Pretty handy, don't you think?"_

 _In a matter of seconds, Naruto's brain went a thousand different directions. Part of him, most of him honestly, wanted to grab Mephisto by the neck and strangle the life out of him in a mixture of rage and fear. Naruto hated the bastard for everything he'd put him through and for everything he'd probably ask of Naruto in the future. He feared Mephisto too, and wanted to insure the demon lord never had to make him feel that kind of pain ever again. But Naruto wasn't stupid; he knew killing Mephisto with the chips stacked the way they were right now would just lead to more misery for him to deal with._

 _So he would wait. Yes, Naruto would wait for his chance, for a day when he had the upper hand on Mephisto and could gut him once and for all. More than gutting actually! Monsters like Mephisto deserved to suffer for the endless sea of pain he'd caused countless individuals, and Naruto would see to it personally! And when the day for it finally came, lord how satisfying it would be…_

 _But for now, all Naruto could do was wait._

* * *

And waited he had, for years now, and the chance still hadn't come. It would though, that much Naruto was sure of, so until it did he'd just keep on using his damned powers to do as much as good as he could. Speaking of good, it was about time to call Jessica and tell her what was going on. Hopefully she'd take it better than Naruto was picturing in his head.

* * *

"Fuuuuck," Kiba groaned, throwing her head back onto her pillow, "Mephisto was supposed to tell us where Naruto is like an hour ago! I'm not crazy, right? He said that was today?"

Hinata was sitting on her own bed, making little circles with her fingers on her hotel comforter, "Yeah, it was today. Maybe he's just busy. This whole situation sounded pretty bad."

"Exactly! So how do we know Naruto isn't in trouble right now? What if shit's hit the fan and we're the only ones who can save him?"

That was a possibility Hinata had been trying to push from her mind, "We both know Mephisto's would handle it better than we could."

Kiba wasn't taking no for answer, "But what if this is a really tight battle and we're what ends up tipping the scale?"

"You're throwing around an awful lot of 'ifs,', Kiba."

"Doesn't mean I'm wrong."

It most certainly didn't. Hinata sighed, doing her best not to think of Kiba's badgering. She knew she wouldn't be able to just sit here for much longer, but what could she do? No one even knew where Naruto was right now. Then again, maybe that was the best place to start. "If we're going to try and do anything, it should be finding Naruto. I'm sure if we ask around or get a PI-"

"A PI?" Kiba repeated, "The fuck do we need a Private investigator for when me and Akamaru are top-tier hunters? My nose is just as good in this form as it is when I'm a full on wolf."

Hinata raised an eyebrow, "Kiba, we're talking about New York here. There's no way your nose can lock onto one scent in a city like this."

Something about the way she said that didn't sit well with Kiba, "Is that a challenge, Hinata? I thought you had a little more faith in me than that."

"Don't start with that. No one has a nose good enough to track down somebody in a city like this. Let's just call somebody we can-"

Kiba was already up and reaching for her things, "Nope, I'm gonna find Naruto all by myself. You go and get your PI. They'll take them twice as long to track him down."

"Come on, Kiba. Don't get all upset."

"Who said I'm upset? I'm trying to make this a competition! First one to find Naruto gets to take first crack at him when we get him somewhere private."

Hinata blushed the brightest shade of red she had in a long time, "Hold on! We don't even know if Naruto wants to sleep with us yet! Shouldn't try to-MPH!"

A deep kiss silenced Hinata before she could finish. Kiba's tongue messaged her own for several second before she pulled away. With a wink, Kiba whispered to her, "If he's as horny as we are, no way is he gonna turn down the little slice of heaven I'm looking at right now, and I can be pretty persuasive myself. Good luck, babe. I'll see ya at the finish line."

"The finish line…" Hinata echoed, still a bit dazed. Kiba slamming the door shut on her way out snapped her out of it though, "Shit! We're really doing this?"

* * *

It was official, Akamaru was lost. Initially he'd resolved to stick by his sister and her friend-turned-lover once they got to New York to find Naruto; however, their arguing had quickly gotten on his nerves. Wanting some peace and quiet the teen had silently managed to sneak away on his motorcycle and began searching for the missing blond himself. Yet, as expected the teen quickly became distracted in the big city, especially as he drove through Time Square and noticed a few woman parading around in little more than bikinis.

Slapping himself out of the memory, the former canine berated himself. 'Focus! If you don't find Naruto you'll never hear the end of it from…'

The teen's train of thought came to a halt as he heard the sound of another motorcycle coming towards him. Akamaru knew that the bike could be owned by a number of people, but his his knee jerk reaction was to assume his older sister had convinced Hinata to track him down. Turning around to face his punishment, the boy was unprepared for the sight in front of him.

The tall black man on the chopper wasn't anyone Akamaru knew, but the blond hair and whisker-like birthmarks were immediately recognizable, even if the last time the white haired boy saw Naruto was years ago. Unfortunately Naruto and the other motorcycle rider passed by too fast for Akamaru to call out, and the pair passed through the traffic signal before the teen could turn his bike around and follow. Still desperate to share his new found lead, the boy patted down his pockets, trying desperately to find his cellphone.

Upon not finding it, the boy groaned. He remembered his sister had swiped his phone at breakfast. It had been some kind of attempted to keep him from running off, and look how well that worked. "Don't tell me she never gave it back! Shit!"

Still unwilling to admit defeat, Akamaru pulled over and looked around to see if anyone could help. After observing the crowd of people, the teen's eyes landed on one person. The other teen looked to be around his age, maybe half a year younger. Her brown hair, which looked almost orange, was cut short and she looked rather unassuming in her long sleeve black shirt and grey pants. Really the only thing that set the girl apart was her short height at just over five feet, still she gave off a vibe that drew Akamaru's attention, along with one other physical feature.

'And here I thought I was a boob man.' Akamaru thought to himself as he took a quick glance at the woman's rather conspicuously large and conspicuously awesome butt. Stealing his nerves, the teen left his bike behind as he walked towards the girl and tapped her shoulder to get her attention. Quickly the girl's head snapped up, giving Akamaru her undivided attention.

Feeling even more nervous, he said, "This is kinda awkward, but I lost my phone and I kinda need to call my sister. If it wouldn't be too much trouble could I borrow yours real quick?"

The girl seemed to consider her options beefily before giving Akamaru a smile, with the teen mentally noting her slight buck teeth looked rather cute, and reply, "Sure thing." She fished out her own phone from her pocket, unlocking it before handing it off.

Accepting the phone, Akamaru proceeded to dial his sister's number. Unfortunately, he was directed straight to Kiba's voicemail. Biting back a growl of frustration, Akamaru left his message. "Hey it's your brother calling on a stranger's phone since YOU swiped mine. Anyway, I think I found the guy you and Hinata are looking for, or at least I know the direction he's going. Start looking around the East side of the city and I'll catch up with you. Bye." Akamaru handed the girl her phone, "Thanks."

As he was getting back on his motorcycle, the boy heard someone call to him. "So that's it then? You're just going to go wandering off without giving me your name?" Looking up, Akamaru was surprised to see the girl had followed after him. Deciding it was only polite, the teen shared his name.

"Akamaru." At seeing the questioning look, the boy explained, "It's a family name."

"Well Akamaru, you're not from New York, are you?" When the boy raised an eyebrow, the girl deciding to go ahead and continued, "You obviously don't know the city. Why don't you come hangout with me and my friends until your sister calls you back?"

"I wouldn't want to impose, miss?"

"Doreen Green," The now named Doreen began, "and you'd hardly be imposing on me, Nancy, Thomas, or Ken. That is if you can save me some money on an Uber and give me a ride back to my apartment."

Giving Doreen a smile, and doing his best to keep make it as non-vicious as possible, Akamaru held out a hand and said, "Then hop on Lady Green, your steed awaits."

Doreen climbed right on the motorcycle, putting her arms around Akamaru's waist. He felt his stomach flutter as he handed her back a helmet. _'Geez, girls don't usually do this to me. I'm gonna have to be careful with this one…'_

* * *

"Did Killgrave give any kinda clue who these new friends of his might be?" Luke asked as he and Naruto walked through the streets of harlem, little Danielle right next to them with her hand held tightly by her father's. Naruto had gotten them out of Rand's place, seeing as they already knew it wasn't safe, and Luke decided the best place to go to fill him on what was going on was Harlem. He felt safe from Killgrave and his new friends on these streets, "There ain't a whole lot we can do with the information we got right now."

Naruto gave a half-hearted nod, "I know, but as much as I wanna help, that really is all I could figure out. Killgrave was careful about what he gave away. I'm sorry, Luke. If it's any consolation, you're taking it better than Jessica did. That reminds me, she told me to let you know you guys were gonna have to buy her another desk."

A predictable, but by no means pleasant, thing to hear, "Swear to God, me and her are single handedly keeping the furniture industry in business… she say what our next move was?"

"Nah, she's just as lost as the rest of us. Until we find out who Killgrave's silent partner is, there's not much we can do. We're gonna try to investigate all this under the wire and just see what turns up. Not that I'm gonna be much help."

"Why's that?"

Naruto let out a small sigh and proceeded to give Luke an abridged version of what happened between he and Mephisto the night before. By the end of the story, Naruto's eyes were locked on the sidewalk, his voice barely getting above a whisper. Mephisto had managed to get under his skin in a way Luke didn't even know was possible.

"That, uh… that's rough," Luke said once the story was finished, well aware how massive of an understatement it was. "But I know how you feel."

Of all the things Luke could've said, there was nothing capable of surprising Naruto more than that, "Wasn't aware you made a deal with the Devil, Luke. What'd you sell your soul for?"

Luke chuckled. He could see Danielle was watching them rather closely by this point, hanging onto every word, which was good. He had something important to say, "I'm talking about feeling powerless, Naruto. Sometimes, life in a place like Harlem can make you feel the same way. You tell yourself there's no way out, that the system's rigged and there's no use fighting against it. It's that mentality beating you down that you gotta worry about. Taking away a man's hope can turn him into something nobody recognizes, and I wanna be able to recognize you, Uzumaki. You hear me?"

"Yeah, I hear you," Naruto said. He rolled eyes, but appreciated the kind words Luke had given him. "Believe me, I'm not the kinda person who's just gonna roll over and keep taking whatever Mephisto throws at me. He's gonna learn one day that you can't keep kicking a dog and expect not to jump up and bite ya. Just a matter of figuring out when and where that lesson is gonna come."

"I don't envy him when it does," Luke replied. He stopped mid-stride when they reached a small barbershop, "This is the place. Pop's shop is the safest place in Harlem. We call it Switzerland; the Neutral Zone."

Naruto opened the front door for Luke and Danielle, motioning for them to head inside, "Then it's perfect. I've had enough shit go wrong today, I'm not gonna let the two of you getting hurt get added to the list."

"Hehe, like somebody could actually hurt daddy," Danielle giggled as she ran into the shop. "Daddy's friend is funny."

* * *

"You remember Pops, right sweetie? And how important he is to daddy?" Luke asked his daughter as the group walked into Pop's shop. Danielle nodded, so he continued, "That means you've gotta be on your best behavior, okay?"

"If I'm good, can I get a pet?"

Luke rolled his eyes, but still smiled. Somehow, he'd been expecting that question, "We'll see what your mom says."

A poute was the little girl's response. Naruto chuckled and asked, "What kind of pet do you want, Danielle? A kitten? A puppy? Maybe some fish?"

"A mongoose."

Naruto blinked a few times, utterly incapable of a thinking up a response. Luke had no choice but to explain, "Jessica read her Rikki-Tikki-Tavi a month ago, and then she found out mommy had a client who somehow managed to keep one as a pet. Ever since then, she keeps insisting we should get one too."

"Because we should!"

A deep laugh echoed throughout the room. It had come from Pops, a tall, barrel chested man wearing a black shirt with a yellow fedora. If there was one thing you could identify Pop by, it was his voice, "Girl wants a pet that rips off snake's heads. Why don't that surprise me outta your daughter, Luke?"

Luke's face lit up like a Christmas tree at the sight of his mentor. He walked over to Pops and pulled him into a great big bear hug, "Probably because you know her mother."

"Where is Jessica? I swear, every time that girl comes over my curse jar gets about a hundred dollars heavier."

"She's off on a work thing… a complicated work thing. That's actually why we're here. Me and Danielle need to be among friends until we get it all sorted out. That okay by you?"

Pops looked at Danielle, who smiled at him, to Naruto, who gave im a small nod, and then looked back at Luke. He only had one question for the man, "Are you moving forward?"

There was the only question that mattered to Pops, and Luke knew the exact answer he wanted to hear. Luckily, it was the same answer Luke was able to give, "Always."

"Then you can stay as long as you like," Pops said with a grin. "I'm glad to see you're settlin' down. Being the hero of Harlem is nice and all, but the end of the day, a man needs something to come back home to."

Bobby, an older man with a bushy beard sitting beside a window playing a game of chess, decided to throw in his two cents as well, "I can remember a time when Luke had plenty of girls to get home too. Seemed like he was 'having coffee' with somebody every damn night."

Rather than let his daughter continue to hear this, Luke figured it was about time to interrupt, "Well Jessica's the only woman in my life these days, and I plan on keeping it that way."

"She know that trick with the finger?" Bobby asked loud enough for entire room to hear, "Is that it? Cause if it is, you'd better hold onto her. Not every girl'll do that for ya."

"I'm not even gonna ask what that means," Luke said, shaking his head. He turned to his daughter, "Hey, Pops always has some sweets in the back. I bet if you ask him real nicely, he'll let you have some."

Danielle didn't need to be told twice. She ran right up to the old man and pleaded to him, "Pops, can I have some treats? Pretty please?"

"Course ya can! Seems only right a girl as sweet as you gets some sweets in her! Right this way."

With Pops and Danielle gone, Luke could attend to his last piece of business: Naruto. He hated to do it, but there was something that simply needed to be said, "Look, Naruto… I think it might be best if you left. This shop might be Switzerland to people around here, but the kinds that come after you..."

Naruto wasn't the least bit offended, "I get it, Luke. I'll get outta here and start looking for ways I might be able to help somewhere else. Take care of yourself."

"Ditto."

If Naruto and Luke hadn't been paying so much attention to each other, they might have noticed the three men in a black van pulling up beside the shop. They also would've noticed the assault rifles each man held, bringing it up to their shoulders to shoulders to prepare to fire. But they didn't notice, and thoughts of leaving were about to be promptly shot down… literally.

"Oh shit," Bobby, the only one who had noticed screamed. "Get your asses down, now!

Bullets rained down on the shop. Luckily it was a slow day, so there weren't many people for the assailants to shoot up. Everyone managed to get down in time, everyone except for the old man Bobby had been playing chess with before the whole. That unlucky soul would be torn to pieces by the gunfire that ripped through Pop's shop. For nearly thirty seconds, things went only like this, the men outside firing round after round into the otherwise peaceful establishment. When it was all over, the floor was covered glass, hundreds of holes littered walls, and the shooters had managed to vanish in record time.

"Well that was fucking insane," Naruto muttered, pulling his head up, "You okay, Luke? Hey, where'd he go?"

It wouldn't be hard to figure that out. There was a Luke shaped hole in one of the walls that lead to the back of the shop. Through all the insanity, Luke had managed to reach his daughter and shield her with his bulletproof body. Danielle was shaking and crying in her father's arms, just as any child would be, "Daddy… is it over."

"Yeah, baby; it's over. Daddy's got you."

"What about Pops?"

Only then did Luke realize his mentor was on the ground, a bullet in his stomach and his blood pooling on the floor. He wasn't dead, but he wasn't far from death's doorstep. He needed help, and fast, "Naruto! Get Pops to the hospital, now! I can't leave Danielle yet."

Naruto didn't plan on arguing. He'd get the old man to the hospital, and then he'd find out who was responsible and show them what a Ghost Rider could do.

* * *

After her argument with Kiba, Hinata drove the streets of New York with purpose. While she was perfectly content with sharing Naruto with her friend, the former Hyuga had first dibs on Naruto and this bet only served to prove that. In no time at all the woman found the apartment building where Alias Investigations was stationed, the sign in the window confirming it. It was supposed to be the best place in town to find a PI. Hopefully that was true…

After walking up the three flights of stairs, since she didn't fancy the idea of riding up an elevator that smelled like piss, Hinata walked towards the end of the hall where the frosted glass with 'Alisa Investigations' in gold letters. After knocking, the door was quickly answered by a young black man with dreadlocks. Giving Hinata a quick looked, the man told her, "Jessica isn't in yet."

Hinata quickly putt her foot out to stop the door from closing, then said, "I just need some help finding a friend of mine; anyone will do."

After a moment of silence, the door once more opened inward and Hinata was able to follow the man in. "Sorry about that, usually the clients request Jess take their cases specifically. Why don't you come in and I'll see what I can do to help. I'm Malcom by the way."

Giving the man a smile, the rider replied, "Hinata, and it's fine." The office wasn't much, just a single room with couple of desks and shelf off to the side lined with alcohol.

After pulling up a seat to Malcolm's desk, the smaller of the two, Hinata spent the next half an hour or so describing Naruto and trying to offer any hints as to where he was, not being in contact with the blond certainly didn't help matters. Just as Malcolm was about to ask another question, the front door slammed open.

Jessica was screaming the second she got into her office, "Malcolm! Where'd you put my good shit! Some asshole in Harlem almost hurt my daughter!"

"Third shelf!" Malcom called back. "Are her and Luke alright?"

Coming back into the main area with a bottle of whiskey, Jessica answered, "Yeah, they're fine, just pisses me off something happens and I can't go and protect my little girl." Taking notice of Hinata, Jessica nodded her head at the other woman and asked, "Who's this? I don't have to take you back to rehab again do I?"

"No, this is our client, Hinata Hyuga. She's looking for an old friend." Looking back at his notes, Malcolm did his best to pronounce the name the way Hinata had, "Naruto Uzumaki."

Now there was a name that caught Jessica's attention. Wondering if Naruto had a paternity lawsuit on his way, Jessica asked, "And just how is Miss Hyuga paying for our services?"

"Money isn't an issue." Hinata replied as she dug around her wallet for Mephisto's company card.

At seeing the piece of plastic Jessica stated, "Sorry honey but I don't take credit, cash and check only." Upon seeing Hinata visibly deflate upon hearing this, and figuring there were good odds on the woman being "enhanced" if she knew Naruto, Jessica got an idea for an alternative payment. "Tell you what though, you help me out on a case and I'll have Malcom find this Naruto guy for you. Sound like a plan?"

"That's agreeable." Hinata replied with a grin. She was so going to win the bet.

* * *

That was, unless Kiba had something to say about it. She wasn't gonna lie, Hinata had been right about the smell of New York. Trying to get a read on anything in city with that many people was damn near impossible. The only thing that kept the dream alive was how strong of smell Naruto managed to put off…

Yet, that begged the question; what the hell was Kiba using as a baseline? She didn't have any of Naruto's possessions on hand, and she hadn't smelled him in God only knew how many years. So how exactly had Kiba managed to find any sort of trail to follow? It was really quite simply. Having been up close and personal with Hinata for so long, Kiba had noticed almost immediately that her wife's scent had changed after she became a Rider. As a matter of fact, it changed A LOT, and no human smelled the way she did. Since Naruto was a Rider, Kiba figured that he must have a similar scent to him, and she was right. Kiba needed less than a minute outside to get a whiff of a certain smell that bared a striking resemblance to Hinata's. So far it hadn't lead her to the blonde and it was hard to pick up at certain points, but Kiba still felt if she was careful and patient, she'd win this competition without breaking a sweat.

"I've gotta be getting close. This smell just keeps getting stronger and stronger," Kiba said to herself sniffing the air around her. She glanced over at as hospital just across the street, wondering for a moment if that was where Naruto might be. The idea didn't stick with her long, "Nah. Even if he did get torn up, there's no way he'd go to a hospital to get fixed up."

"Who you looking for, sweet cheeks?" Ask a young man in a baggy sweatshirt just behind Kiba, "Your boyfriend?"

Kiba didn't even bother to turn around, "If I say yes, will you leave me alone?"

The man didn't respond, forcing Kiba to turn around and face him. She found him with a switchblade knife in his hand, already extended and at the ready, "Got a nice ass, sweetie, but it ain't what I'm here for. Just walk over to that alleyway nice and slow, give me whatever cash you've got on ya, and this thing'll be over before you know it."

"You don't wanna be alone with me in a dark alley. Might lose whatever limp noodle you call a dick."

Whoever this punk was, he didn't plan on backing down. He took another step towards Kiba, putting the knife right up to her stomach. Whatever she was selling, he wasn't buying, "Keep taking like that, and I'll make you taste it before I take your money."

This was about to get fun for Kiba. She snatched the punk's wrist and twisted it hard enough to make him drop the knife. Then she grabbed him by the balls and squeezed them just hard enough to draw some pain. Kiba could crush them like grapes if she wanted to, but she wouldn't. Not unless he forced her to, "Say one more word, and you'll be real grateful there's a hospital nearby. Got that, shithead?"

"Let go of me, you crazy bitch!"

Kiba was about to make good on her promise when someone bumped into the duo. She let got of the punk, giving him the chance to run off with his tail firmly between his legs. This pissed off Kiba to no end, but just as she was about to turn around and chew out the man who'd bumped into her, she caught sight of his sunglasses and walking stick. He was blind.

"Oh jeez, I'm so sorry. I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"No, it's fine," Kiba replied, taking in the man, who looked to be in his late twenties, with his brown hair and button up suit, "Do you need help getting around, or-"

The man shook his head, "That was pretty unusual for me. I'm normally pretty agile on my feet, all things considered."

Kiba had been thinking the same thing, more so on the unusual front. That was a pretty hard shove for someone who didn't know she was there. Hell, the push had perfectly executed to let that asshole fall out of Kiba's hands. Maybe she was being paranoid… or maybe not. It seemed silly enough, but Kiba decide to run herself a little test. If she turned out to be wrong, it wouldn't really matter anyways. With a clenched fist, Kiba reeled back and gave a mighty swing towards the man, stopping litteral centimeters before he she hit the man's face. He didn't move, but that didn't mean he hadn't seen it coming.

"You've got a lot of self control," Kiba said, bringing her fist back down, "But you tensed up. Not much, but enough. I can see it in your hands and in your face."

"You've got good eyes," The man replied, "And some skill. Takes talent to hold back the way you did, and to take on a street thug like that. How about we both agree we're not normal and move on with our day, eh Miss?"

"The name's Kiba."

The man nodded at this, "And mine's Matt, Matt Murdock. I'm a lawyer in Hell's Kitchen. Here." He held out a business card to hear, "In case you ever need an attorney. Stay out of trouble, alright Kiba?"

Kiba took the card and looked down at it for a split second. When she looked back up, Matt was already walking away. She had no idea who this man actually was, but she knew she wasn't done talking to him just yet, "Hey! Wait up!"

* * *

If Kiba had gone across the street to that hospital as she'd been tempted to, she would've won the bet right then and there. She didn't though, so she missed the fact that Naruto was currently in one of their hospital rooms, looking over the comotoes Pops as Luke had asked him too. For the moment, he was alone, wondering to himself how much longer he'd have to live a life where he was forced to witness senseless death after senseless death.

If the person who was about to enter the almost entirely white, chemical scented room was any indication, Naruto wouldn't be free of it anytime soon. "I told my boys to leave Pops out of it. Told em' they were just supposed to scare Luke, that the shop was off limits. What can I say? Sometimes motherfucks don't do what ya tell em' to."

"That's your excuse for what happened at the shop?" Naruto asked. He was sitting in a chair besides Pop's bed. In front of him stood a man about Luke's age, with a bald head, a goatee, and one hell of a nice suit. Naruto knew who he was, "You're Cottenmouth, right? King of crime here in Harlem?"

"My name's Cornell, and you'd better call me by it if you know what's good for you. I ain't afraid of a Ghost Rider."

Naruto stood up, taking several steps towards the man, "Then you're a fucking idiot. You have any idea what I can do to a man like you?"

"That I do," Cottenmouth replied, "Which is why I came here to offer you a job. Me and my new friends, that is."

Where had Naruto heard that term before? "Your new friends, eh? Are those the same friends that Killgrave is working for these days."

Cottenmouth narrowed his eyes at that, "Who the fuck is Killgrave?"

"Don't play that shit with me. Two of the Defenders are attacked or threatened on the same day by assholes talking about some 'new friends', and I'm supposed to assume it's different people?"

"Defenders, eh? That what him and his little white girl calling themselves these days?"

Naruto noted to himself that Cottonmouth was avoiding the question. He took another step towards the crime lord, "Him and few other friends of theirs you don't wanna fuck with. Based on the fact that I've got Killgrave blackmailing me and you trying to buy me out, something tells me your boss's are real scared of what I can do. That's good. I like my prey scared!"

This time, Cottonmouth backed away, "Only boss of me… is ME."

"Keep telling yourself that. And do me a favor… tell your friends they've made a big mistake. They pulled a fucking Ghost Rider into the mix! They've done a lot shit I don't like, but shooting at a fucking child? Well that really doesn't sit well with me! Tell them I'm done playing the waiting game, and they'd better get ready! The Ghost Rider's coming for each and every one of you, and anyone who doesn't get out now is gonna be ash by the end of the week! You got that?"

Cottonmouth didn't reply. He just stood there, staring at Naruto for awhile. Neither one of them blinked for sometimes, but when they did, it was Cottonmouth who caved in first. He turned away from Naruto and said, "Whole lot a' people are gonna get hurt if you try this. We don't pull any punches."

"I wouldn't be saying any of it if I didn't think I could handle the situation. My friends are gonna be fine, but yours… well, you'll see."

After letting Naruto's words sink in for a moment, Cottonmouth walked out of the room without saying a word. There really was no beating a Rider when it came to intimidation…


	9. Racing Hearts Pt 1

We're back, ladies and gentlemen, and with another chapter of Uzumaki Rider. We know you're all dying to see what becomes of the bet and how Naruto handles the new players in the game, so we'll jump right into that. Oh, and of course add Akamaru's misadventures in New York to that list as well. Basically, we've got plenty of stuff to get to in this chapter, so we should probably stop blabbering. Quickly though, we do want to say thank you for getting us to over 200 favorite and over 300 followers. We're so glad so many people are enjoying the story. Sucks that our updates can't be more frequent, but we're busy people and we'd rather take our time and give you something good. Thank you all so much for reading and be sure to leave a review.

Chapter Soundtrack - I Will Steal You Back : Jimmy Eats World

* * *

"So… you were unable to convert the Ghost Rider to our side? That's rather unfortunate, Cornell. For you, that is."

Cottonmouth could practically feel the old woman's words like they were a knife pressed to his throat. He currently found himself in an abandoned old warehouse with five television screens hanging above him, each connect to a receiver that project one the five people he now answered to. Needless to say, they were far from happy with him, "I've failed you; I can own up to that much. But, that kid was dead set on taking us out long before I came into that hospital room."

Another voice, this one deep and belonging to a male, cut in, "Yes, because your men decide it'd be a good idea to poke a bear that spits Hellfire! We expect our associates to be capable of handling their own men!"

"You see, that's the beauty of being able to control minds," A British voice, this one on cellphone being held by a man right next to Cottonmouth, cut in. "Handling people has never been much of a problem for me."

The old woman from before replied, "Yes, unless it's the Ghost Rider or the superhuman PI, Killgrave!"

"Suppose I walked into that one, didn't I?" Killgrave asked.

"Enough," Snapped one of the screens. This one belonged to woman a decade or two younger than the other woman, "Neither of you managed to eliminate the impending threat! If you value your lives, see to it that's taken care of with the next few days! Do I make myself clear?"

Cottonmouth and Killgrave spoke in unison, "Crystal."

"Good. I want Rand and that traitor Colleen taken care of as well, but they can wait until the Ghost Rider is handled. You're both dismissed."

* * *

Once he got Daniella dropped off to Danny and felt sure she was safe, Luke headed straight for the hospital to check on Pops. What his reaction would be to seeing his mentor laid up like that would be, Naruto couldn't say, but he had a feeling it wouldn't be good.

When the mountain of the man finally crossed the threshold into Pop's hospital room, Naruto had his fears confirmed. Luke took one look at Pops, with all the tubes in his body and all the monitors connected to him, and turned a deadly degree of stoic. "Cottonmouth's done. When I get near him, I'm gonna rip that skinny bastards arms off his body and beat him until he can't feel the rest of his body."

"No, you're not," Naruto told him. He stood up from his chair much like he did with Cottonmouth, only this time it was to calm someone down rather than threaten them. "You've got a family to worry about, Luke. Last thing you need is to get arrested. If anyone's gonna handle this situation, it'll be me."

Luke's tone didn't change, "No. Maybe you can help, but this is my shit to deal with. Pops got shot up because of me. I've gotta make this right."

"Boy… I thought I taught you better than that."

All eyes turned to Pop's hospital bed. No one even knew the man was awake, much less able to speak. It had been raspy, but dammit, it was something. Pops was smiling at both of them, a sight that couldn't have felt more welcome to Luke, "Pops… you're okay."

Pops rolled his eyes, "No, I'm in a hospital bed dealing with a hell of a lot a' pain, but I am alive. That's all that matters."

"You got that right," Naruto said with smirk, "I might not know you that well, but anybody that means as much as you do to Luke must be a pretty fucking decent guy."

"Where's my swear jar when I need it?"

Luke never thought he'd be so happy to hear Pops bring up that damn jar again, "Tell you what, we'll have somebody get from the shop and bring up to your room, bullet holes and all."

"Speaking of bullets, tell me none of em' hit that sweet little girl of yours."

No surprise to see that was Pop's main concern, "They'd have to get through me to manage that. That does bring me back to my larger point, though. Cottonmouth crossed a line Pops, and I don't care it was because his men went off the handle. If he can't stop them from shooting up a shop with a child, my daughter, inside of it, then I can't let him stay in Harlem. Something's gotta be done about him."

Pops let out a small cough and nodded, "I couldn't agree more… but you can't let Cottonmouth drag you back. You've got to handle him in a way that moves you forward."

"That's a real nice sentiment," Naruto muttered, "Any idea how we actually pull it off, cause I've got nothing?"

"Wish I knew, kid. Right now, all I can say is that I don't wanna see Luke end up back behind bars again."

A fair point. Luke had a family to worry about, one he couldn't take care of in prison. Still, that didn't change what needed to be done, "I'll keep my head down, but one way or another, Cottonmouth's gotta go."

"You'll stay out of trouble just fine," Naruto cut in, "Because I'll be with you the whole time. There isn't much anybody can do to come after me. If it comes down to it, I'll do what I'm best at and send that bastard where he belongs… but I promise to do things your way for as long as I can."

Luke could live with that, "Then let's stop talking and start actually doing something. Bobby should be up here any minute to keep Pops company. After that, we've got work to do."

Of all the things Pops could've taken from that statement, the first thing he chose to say was, "Bobby's coming? If that boy brings his chess board up here, he'd best get ready for a beating."

"Whatever you say, Pops."

* * *

"So, how exactly do you know Mr. Uzu-whats-it?"

Hinata, who was stilling sitting in front of Jessica's desk after nearly half an hour conversation, raised her eyebrow at yet another personal question from this complete stranger. "I don't really see that has to do with my case, Miss Jones."

"I'm just making sure this isn't some angry ex-boyfriend who's gonna start shooting the second I mention your name," Jessica lied. All she wanted was to size up what this girl wanted with her friend, and she'd probably get a more truthful answer if Hinata didn't know she knew Naruto. So, that was how they would keep playing things, at least until Jessica felt confident she knew this girl's intentions. "Naruto and Hinata… those aren't names you hear in New York too often."

It took everything Hinata had in her not to roll her eyes, "Because we aren't from here, but I'm guessing you already knew that. Look, all you need to know is that Naruto and I grew up together, and I'm trying to reconnect with him after some… let's call them 'extenuating circumstances.'"

Jessica mulled that over. It sounded true enough, but lying was a second language for some people. What she needed to was startel Hinata with something personal, and Jessica had a feeling she knew what'd do the trick, "So he'd remember you? Recognize you on site and the whole nine yards?"

"I…" Hinata began before quickly trailing off. She knew what she wanted the answer to be, but wanting and knowing are two different things, "I think he would… I HOPE he would."

There was some pain behind that last answer, and pain was exactly the kind of thing Jessica was looking for, "Alright, I've heard enough. I'm gonna move through all this quick, so pay attention. I don't repeat myself. There's an asshole right here in New York City that I've got a hell of a history with, and it's a history he's about to pay for. Don't have time to go into all the details, but long story short, the guys a pervert asshole who'd deserve to die even if he'd only done a fourth of the shit that he has. People keep telling me I need to wait to kill him… fuck that. I've waited long enough. He's threatening my family now; it's time to end this. I know all his preferences, especially in women, and it wouldn't take much to make you look like someone made especially for him. You'll get his attention, if nothing else, and I'll take him out the second we've got him out in the open. Any questions?"

Hinata processed everything she'd just heard before answering, "Just one. What makes you so sure I'd be alright with participating in a murder? I'm not saying you're wrong, but it's a risky conclusion to jump to."

"I'm sure because I looked you in your fucking eyes. You've seen some shit. I don't know what exactly, but it must've been a doozy with vibe you're been giving off."

"Funny… I was thinking the same thing about you."

Jessica found herself cracking a smile at that, "Glad we understand each other. Come on, let's get you ready for your staring role in a pervert's fantasy."

* * *

Tracking down Matt hadn't been easy, even with his business card to give Kiba his scent. The man moved quickly, especially considering he was supposed to be blind, and trying to pick a single person out of the giant crowd New York amassed was no easy feat. Kiba did manage it though, and the second she had the lawyer in sight, she made damn sure she didn't lose him. She sauntered right up to Matt, grabbed him by the arm, and growled into his ear, "You and I need to have a word, Mr. Murdock."

"I don't know if we need to, but it certainly seems as though we're going to."

Kiba rolled her eyes, "Not the time to be a smart ass. Look, I'm trying to track somebody down, and I've been able to figure out the general area they're in. Problem is, I don't know jack shit about this city, and I can't just go barging into any place I want without getting in trouble. Sure, there were some bars I could've checked, but I saw like a dozen apartment buildings he could've been in too. I need someone to help me narrow it down, and I'm thinking you could be the man for the job."

Yes, he may have been, but he sure as shit didn't seem interested in helping her, "I'm a lawyer, not a private investigator. Even if I was, I'm not sure a woman who was about to crush a man's family jewels in the broad daylight is someone I'd want as a client."

"That is… kind of a fair point," Kiba grumbled. She needed a way to make Matt see her reasoning on this. Well, maybe SEE wasn't the right word. That was a stupid pun to make even in her own head, but it did give Kiba an idea. There was a little something she'd heard about back in her shinobi days that might be able to get her out of this bind, "You've got heightened senses and stuff, right? That's how how you knew my fist was coming."

"Not exactly, but you're close enough," Matt replied.

Just what Kiba had been hoping to hear, "Then you can do that thing where you listen to my heart to see if I'm lying! I'll tell you what I need help with, and you'll know if I'm telling the truth!"

Matt pondered the idea, "It's not foolproof. There are some people who know how to control it. With the kind of skill you've got, you could be one of them."

"Do I seem like the kind of person who's good at controlling her emotions?"

"Fair point," Matt replied. He thought for a moment longer, then replied, "Tell me what you want to tell me. I'll decide for myself if I think it's truth."

Kiba happily obliged, "I'm looking for a friend of mine I lost track of a long, LONG time ago. I don't wanna hurt him, he's probably gonna be happy to see me, and the worst thing that's could happen is that this whole situation mind-fucks the shit out of him."

At no point did Kiba's heart falter. It continued in its perfect little rhythm, giving Matt all the confidence he needed, "If you're not telling truth, you've got better control over you pulse than anyone I've ever met. Pull out your phone; I'll see if I can get you a lead on your friend."

"Thanks, this really means a lot to me!"

Matt waited for Kiba get her cell phone, then gave her a number to dial. She handed it to him once it began ringing. There was silence for a few seconds, then Matt spoke to someone on the other line, "Hey, Karen? It's Matt. I've got a friend here who's looking for someone. Any chance you or buddies at the Globe have gotten any tips about… hold on." Only then did Matt realize he didn't know who he was supposed to be asking about, "Kiba, what's this guy's name?"

"Naruto Uzumaki."

That must've been a name Matt heard before, because he hesitated a moment before putting the phone back to his ear, "Karen? Yeah, I'm back. Looks like we're checking to see if the Ghost Rider's in town. No kidding? Emma Frost herself? I know it's just rumours, but it sounds like something he'd pull. Alright, I'll talk to you later. Thanks, Karen."

Kiba was practically bouncing on her heels when Matt handed her back the phone, "So, what'd she say? Is Naruto nearby?"

"Yeah, he's in town alright, but you knew already that. Kinda like how you already knew he was the Ghost Rider, from the sound of things."

Neither points were disputed by Kiba, "So tell me something I didn't know. Like, for example, where he is."

Matt had come across the Ghost Rider once or twice, hence why he knew who Naruto truly was, and had always tried to stay at arm's length from him. He admired some of the good the Ghost Rider had been able to do, but his methods were far from pleasant. Still, Matt had told Kiba he'd help her friend her friend, and she must've had her reasons. So, he admitted to her, "Rumour has it he's been hanging around with a friend of mine, Luke Cage. Last anyone heard, the two of them were trying to clean up after a shop they'd been visiting was attacked. I can take you there."

"Then let's go."

"Not yet. The way things are going, I'm just about 99% certain that we'll run into trouble trying to track Naruto down. I need to make sure you can take of yourself."

Kiba raised an eyebrow at that, "I'm sorry, did scaring off that fucking asshole a few minutes ago make me look like some kinda helpless little girl to you?"

"You're plenty capable, but I'm guessing you don't exactly have a suit of armor under your shirt. I've got a friend who makes special clothes for people like us. He should be able to get you something a little more… durable, we'll say."

That didn't sound half bad, but it did leave Kiba with one question, "Does the fabric stretch?"

Matt shrugged, "It can. Does your list superpowers including growing, or-"

"It's a long story," Kiba cut him off, "I'll tell you on the way to your friends place. Go ahead and lead the way."

* * *

Akamaru wasn't sure what he'd expected when he heard Doreen say he was going to meet her 'friends.' Maybe his mind had assumed it would be some run of the mill roommates, or just some old pals who stopped over from time to time to fuck around. Neither of those things ended up being what he found. No, Akamaru got something far more interesting than anything his mind might have conjured up.

First there was Ken Shiga, a young asian man who spoke about everything in the most scientific manner Akamaru had ever heard, and that was including Shino from back home. He was pleasant enough, just sort of an odd person. Then there was Tomas Perez, a fairly large individual with a tendency to get excited rather easily and seemed a bit full of himself. Nancy Whitehead was Doreen's actual roommate, and apparently there was only three things not to do around her… make fun of her last name, her decorating style, or her cat, Mew. Other than that, the young lady was mellow as could be. Lastly, there was Tippy Toes, a female squirrel that Doreen apparently managed to keep as a pet. It was a cast of characters Akamaru couldn't have dreamed up if he tired, but nonetheless, there they were, and they were smack dab in the middle of fairly competitive poker game.

"Okay, there's no way the new guy isn't cheating," Tomas grumbled after Akamaru managed to win his third hand in a row, "Even Ken doesn't win this much, and he acts like he's got a computer in his head!"

"First of all, we're not playing for money, so why does it matter?" Nancy asked. "And secondly, he's not cheating. You've just got a terrible poker face."

Tomas threw his cards down on the table, "Then how's he beating everybody else?"

After taking a brief look around the apartment, which wasn't much different from any other wood interior apartment in New York, Ken said, "I don't know. There are no reflective surfaces from him to see our cards with. Perhaps he does what I do."

"I don't think he's using a mathematical formula, Ken," Doreen said. She had her own theory, "But he's looking at all our face's really closely. Maybe he's just good at reading people."

Akamaru would've loved to tell Doreen just how right she was. He'd been trained with shinobi after all, and part of his job when he was still a dog-nin was to watch for muscle ticks and know when someone was about to strike. Turned out that skill also applied to playing poker. Still, he couldn't explain that to any of his new friends or he'd give away one hell of a secret that affected far more people than just himself.

Then again, Doreen and her friends hard plenty of secrets of their own, secrets that Akamaru would learn of in due time. For now, he'd go on petting Tippy Toes, who was more comfortable with Akamaru than she had been with any stranger Doreen had ever brought to her apartment, and kicking everyone's ass at poker. His education as to her activities as Squirrel Girl, along with those of her little band of misfits, would just have to wait.

* * *

It seemed Cottonmouth was just as a big a coward as Naruto had expected. After the threats the Ghost Rider had leveled against him, he went into hiding, giving only a few of his closest allies any idea where he would be hold up in the meantime. Luke knew what people to shake down in order to find him, so he told Naruto to sit tight while he handled the situation himself. Sitting tight had never been something the young Uzumaki had ever been much good at.

"Fffuuuccckkk," Naruto groaned, throwing his head back on his hotel room pillow. "I need something to do! I can't just sit here all day!"

Naruto knew leaving the room wasn't option… well, Mephisto had said it wasn't an option anyways. Fucking Mephisto. How much longer was Naruto going to be able to put up with that psychopath treating him like some dog? Until there was something he could do was the only answer Naruto had the moment.

Then again, Naruto had been wondering lately if there really was nothing he could do. As unadvistable as it may have been, there was ONE thing he could try… one incredibly stupid, unspeakably risky thing. Naruto still had the option to just say 'fuck it', and bail on Mephisto. The fucking card he made Naruto carry with him was the only reason that bastard could track down Naruto in the first place, so why not just rip it to shreds and high tail it out of there? Sure, there'd be hell to pay if Mephisto ever caught up to him, but for even the chance to be free of that bastard, it might be worth it.

"Wait, am I actually thinking about this?" Naruto asked himself out loud. The idea seemed crazy, to put it lightly, but nowhere near as crazy as it should've seemed. He pulled out the card, that bane of his existence, and stared at it for some time. Euphoria hit him when he so much as thought about shredding the blasted thing. Why? Why couldn't he just do it? "You know why, dipshit. Cause even if you tear that card up, it won't be the end of it. It'll be the start of a whole new set of problems that'll be just much of a pain in the asss as the other ones."

But what if those pains were worth it? At this point, Naruto couldn't think of many things that wouldn't be worth be able to control his own destiny once again. Oh, and pissing off Mephisto sounded pretty great too. The more Naruto thought about it, the more he had nearly convinced himself this was what he wanted to do. It got so far that he took the card in both hands and began to bend it, the anticipation of the first rip exhilarating him in every way.

"Give me one good reason I shouldn't do it," Naruto growled to himself. He nearly would've finished the job… if a particular thought didn't enter his head, "Laura… there's you're good reason. Mephisto wouldn't lose an ounce of sleep over using her to get to me, and I can't protect her yet… not completely anyways."

Naruto let that realization sink in and tucked the card back into his pocket, muttering while he did. "Someday, but not today. Just gonna have to hope Luke gets something good soon so I can work out my stress another way…"

* * *

It was impossible for Hinata not to feel utterly ridiculous right now. Everything about the ensemble she wore went against what she was accustomed to. Almost everything on her was purple, from the flashy dress she wore to her royal purple lipstick, and it made her feel like a grape-shaded idiot. There was also the way the dress was cut to consider, showing off more of her breasts than she was used to and ending just before it reached her knees. Leggings topped the whole thing off, and while there was an air of elegance to everything she had on, Hinata felt like a high class whore. But all of it, including the coloring and high-end design, was meant to entice one specific person… Killgrave. With Hinata's naturally porcelain like skin, the makeover had been all she needed to turn herself into the sick bastard's wet dream. If Killgrave had gotten his way, Jessica would've worn something just like it.

But would he take notice of the girl sitting on a park bench in an area supposedly close to where he'd been hiding? While he certainly wouldn't come out himself, it wasn't uncommon from him to send out his men to search for a girl that may 'interest' him. Hinata had been sitting on that same bench for three hours, and so far no one had said so much as a word to her. She was almost ready to give up hope on the endeavor when a man in a fine suit, (a blonde, so it couldn't have been Killgrave), approached her. "Excuse me, Miss? I need a moment of your time."

"What for?"

"My boss wishes to have a word with you. He attracts a fair bit of attention to himself, so he thought it'd be better if he sent me instead of walking over himself. He's at the cafe right across the street. Please, come with me."

Hinata already had a feeling the trap had been sprung, "Kind of a pushy guy by the sound of it."

"You have no idea."

Feigning reluctance, (Hinata didn't want it too look like she was agreeing too easily and scare off her target), Hinata stood up, put a bookmark in the novel she'd been reading, and followed the strange young man to the cafe as she'd been asked to. When she arrived, she had no trouble identify Killgrave, with his arrogant eyes and obnoxious suit. And Killgrave, for his part, had little trouble identifying her as well, "Would you look at that. Yes, you are just as magnificent as I'd heard. Might actually give my last girlfriend a run for her money in the looks department. Sit down."

Hinata did so immediately. She'd warned Jessica beforehand that Killgrave's powers might now work on her, so Jessica had been crystal clear that Hinata needed to follow all of his instructions to the letter until she was 100% sure he was vulnerable. He spooked easily. Still, Hinata didn't hesitate to inform him, "Comparing someone to your ex-girlfriend doesn't leave the best first impression."

"Fair enough. My name's Killgrave. Tell me your name, darling."

"Hinata Hyuuga."

"Exocit… I always did have unique tastes. My word, you really are something. I was worried about coming out today, but after seeing you, I'm just so glad I did. You and I can have a lot of fun together."

This asshole didn't have an off switch, did he? "Awful forward with a girl you just met, aren't you, Killgrave?"

Killgrave shook his head, "Didn't phrase that one properly, did I? I can fix that. Look into my eyes, Miss Hyuuga."

"Alright," Hinata replied through gritted teeth. She was supposed to wait for Jessica to do something, but this guy was getting on her last nerve.

"Here's how the rest of this encounter is going to go. When I stand up, we're going to get into my car, drive over to my flat, and you're going to proceed to apply whatever knowledge you have about pleasing a man onto me. Then, you will cook me some lunch. Based on all that, I'll decide if I want to keep you around or not. Did you get all that, darling?"

Something inside Hinata snapped. She smiled at Killgrave and replied, "Of course, Mr. Killgrave. I'm sure I can get you nice and HOT!"

At the word 'hot', Hinata's body exploded in a blaze of purple flame and she transformed into her Ghost Rider form. Killgrave knew how badly he'd fucked up right in that moment. Everyone in the café saw the transformation and started to run for their lives. There wasn't a second for Killgrave to turn to the cowardly ways that had saved him so many times. It was over, but that didn't stop him from begging for his life, "Wait, we can-"

"No, we can't," Hinata interrupted. She had zero interest in hearing what this monster had to say. The unstoppable blaze of the Pennant Stare filled her eyes, which were locked on Killgrave, "YOU'VE GOT PLENTY TO ANSWER FOR KILLGRAVE! WHEN YOU GET TO HELL, TELL THEM JESSICA JONES SENT YOU!"

"Gggaaahhh!" Killgrave cried, the pain of every sin he'd ever committed burning through his body, and that was one hell of a long list. It felt like an eternity to him, but in reality his body was incinerated within three minutes. Only his ashes remained in this world.

With her work done, Hinata returned to her normal form just in time to see Jessica running towards her. How Jessica would react to what Hinata had just done was anyone's guess, though the Hyuuga heiress wasn't all that optimistic, "Jessica, I know you wanted to do it yourself, but the guy just kept pushing and pushing and-"

"Did it hurt?"

"The Pennant Stare? Yeah, it's one of most painful experiences there is, as far as I know… especially for an asshole like him."

Jessica stared at the heap of ashes in front of her for sometime, expressionless at first. She didn't move so much as a muscle until she slowly began to cry. Not just cry though; Jessica was smiling as well. What kind of emotions were running through here, Hinata couldn't say, but they were damn sure overwhelming her, "He's gone… he's dead and it was painful as hell… I can live with that…"

Edging carefully towards her, Hinata reached out and gave Jessica and gentle poke on the shoulder to see if was still in the real world. Jessica grabbed her without warning and pulled her into a bear hug. Hinata was lucky she was superhuman, because that hug would've crushed her otherwise. All she could think to do was pat Jessica on the back, "It's all over now. He's gonna pay for everything he's ever done. Not sure how the cops are gonna feel about that though."

"Oh believe me, the cops know him and they'll believe it was self defense in a heartbeat," Jessica replied. "I don't know how to thank you for what you just did."

"Giving me Naruto's address would be nice."

Jessica gave a small laugh, "Yeah, that'd probably help… but it's not over though."

"What'd you mean?"

Most of the ashes had blown away in the wind, but there was still enough of them there for Jessica to glance back at them and say, "What he did to me and to God only knows who else won't ever go away. It's gonna stick to me like stink on dogshit, forever… but at least now I know he's paying for it. Come on, let's go get you that address."

* * *

Matt's friend turned out to be a middle aged mountain of man by the name of Melvin. Melvin had a unique talent for creating suits capable of withstanding extreme abuse, including blades and gunfire. Kiba wasn't about to say no to something like that. She offered to pay Melvin for his services, but man turned out to be a giant softy who said he'd set her up for free. It took some time, way more than Kiba had to spare if she was being honest, but it was worth it in the end.

"This thing is fucking insane," Kiba said, looking over her new costume. It was grey, almost the same color her sweatshirt had been back in the Hidden Leaf, and flexible as all hell. On the surface, it seemed to be just like any other type of fabric, but Kiba knew better. Melvin had hung it on his wall and personally put a full clip of bullets into it. Not a single scratch or dent had been made. In her regular form, it stretched across Kiba's body, while it only went up to her elbows and knees in her wolf form, to it protect her vital organs. Kiba was more than pleased with it, "Melvin, how'd you this?"

"It's just about having good material and knowing what to do with it," Melvin replied, unaware of just how vague that was. They were standing in his warehouse right now, which didn't have much in it except for a workbench for Melvin to use. For what it was for, it worked well enough. Of course Matt was there as well, keeping an eye on things making sure Melvin felt comfortable, "Does everything look okay, Matt? I always wanna do good for you and your friends."

Matt gave his old friend a pat on the back, "It's great, Melvin. Some of your best work."

"Honestly, I can't thank you enough for this," Kiba told her new ally. She grabbed her clothes from Melvin's workbench and proceeded to get dressed, well aware she'd be wearing this outfit under her clothes just about every day now. "Can I buy you something to drink, Melvin? I've gotta do something to thank you."

Shaking his head, Melvin replied, "I don't drink. The bar next store has good food though. I wouldn't mind a burger."

Kiba was happy to oblige, "One burger, coming up. You follow me over when you're ready."

"Sound like a plan. I've gotta clean up the bench first."

With a nod, Kiba headed straight for the door, with Matt right by her side. As Melvin had said, there was a bar beside them, though it wasn't the most friendly looking place. It was called The Wasted Skull, another good sign about the quality of the place. Nonetheless, Kiba and Matt continued making their way towards it, right up until Matt heard a familiar voice, "Red? The fuck are you doing in this part of town?"

"Helping a friend out with her new wardrobe," Matt replied. He leaned over to Kiba, "The one who just talked, a guy who's probably still wearing the marine flat cut and dressed in all black, that would be Frank Castle… otherwise known as-"

"The Punisher," Frank finished for him, stepping out in full view of the two. He was exactly as Matt had described, though he'd forgotten to mention the constant thousand yard stare that seemed ever present in Frank's eyes. Looking Kiba up and down, Frank surmised, "You look like a fighter. You like me and Matt, or-"

Matt couldn't let that one slide, "I wouldn't put you and I in the same boat, Frank."

"That's right. You've still got that whole 'holier than thou' thing going, don't ya?"

"Heroes don't murder people."

"So I'm the bad guy then?"

"I never said that."

Frank rolled his eyes, "You don't have to, numb nuts."

While the two of them were busy bickering about ideologies, gunshots started to go off in the bar. It sounded like they were coming from more than one shooter too. Kiba was ready to jump in and do something right then and there, and she didn't plan on going in alone, "Fuck me! Why do I always have the worst fucking timing? Come on, let's take care of this!"

"You and I can go in," Matt told her, "Frank, stay here."

Frank took that about as well as you'd expect. "Fuck that. You need time to put on your mask. Me, I'm not afraid to show my face. I'll go in while you stay feeling all high and mighty out here."

More gunshots sounded off while the two men argued. That was all Kiba needed to decide that she wasn't going to put up with this, "You now what? Both of you stay out here! I'm dealing with this myself!"

"You can't just," Matt tired to cut in, but it was too late. Kiba was already pulling off her shirt, ready to use the new armor Melvin had made for her.

What happened next, the two men could only speculate, but the gunfire didn't last much longer. They heard screams, beating, and general destruction were all heard, but not much was seen. Well, at least not until someone came crashing through one of the bar's windows, landing right at Frank and Matt's feet. The whole thing only took roughly a minute, after which Kiba walked out of the bar, grabbed her normal clothes, and slipped them back on. Everyone was staring at her by that point, but her costume covered anything she might've been worried about, so what did it matter?

Her work finished, Kiba turned to the two men and snarled at them, "See, while you guys were busy measuring dicks, I got this shit taken care of! And the only people who got it really bad were the ones who already had blood on their hands! Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a voicemail I need to check!"

"By all means," Frank replied as Kiba stormed away, phone in hand, "Fuck… that's a hell of sidekick you've got there, Red."

"She's not my sidekick. I've been trying to help her track down the Ghost Rider. Apparently they're old friends."

Frank's ears perked up at that, "Uzumaki? Shit, I coulda told ya where he is. Called me up a couple days ago, said he was in town and that he might wanna meet up before he heads home. I'll give you the address when the girl gets back."

* * *

Akamaru didn't end up playing cards for much longer. After he managed to kick everyone's ass for roughly an hour, and no one could figure out any possible way he could be cheating, (they even went so far as asking him if he was freaking telepath), the group decide to play something a little more evenly matched… truth or dare.

Nothing too crazy had gone down thus far. Ken had been asked if he ever had a crush on anyone, (to which the answer was 'no'). Nancy was dared to try some of Mew's cat food, which wasn't as bad as she expected it to be, but was still pretty awful. Tomas had to put ice in his pants and wait for every last piece to melt before he could go change, a particularly cruel one Nancy had been quite proud of. Most recently of all, Doreen had been asked she'd ever given anyone a lap dance, to which she quickly replied 'NO!' That only left Akamaru to go, and the one to give him the dare was Tomas. Given his track record, this was bound to get interesting.

"Alright, Akamaru, truth or dare?" Tomas asked, rubbing his hands together.

Akamaru puffed out his chest and declared, "Dare!"

"Oh, wrong choice, my friend. Now… is it just me, or have you been spending an a whole lotta time staring at Doreen today?"

While Doreen turned a bright shade of red, Akamaru didn't so much as blink, "I said dare, genius."

Tomas let out an ominous chuckle, "I know… and I'm daring you to kiss Doreen!"

"W-what?" Doreen stammered, "You can't involve another person in a dare! That's not cool!"

"I… I mean… I'll do it," Akamaru said, scratching the back of his head, a bright blush now on his face. "But only if Doreen's okay with it."

Now the real test began. Doreen looked over Akamaru, her blush matching his. She gulped and prepared to respond… but her phone stopped her. It went off just as she was about to answer, and based on her reaction when she looked down, it wasn't the kind of the thing she could ignore. Leaning over to Nancy, Doreen whispered something into her roomates ear, after which Nancy promptly nodded.

Nancy stood up, turned to Akamaru, and said, "Looks like these guys have a last minute thing they to do for a um… college group project… thing. I'm not in that group, so why don't you help me clean up?"

"Yeah, sure," Akamaru replied, honestly a little disappointed Doreen hadn't answered yet. In fact, he was so disappointed that when Ken and Tomas had already jumped up and left, Akamaru found himself calling out to the girl, "Doreen?"

Doreen had just began to turn. She spun back around to face Akamaru, "Yeah?"

"It's just um… well," Akamaru attempted desperately to find the right words. "I just wanted to let you know that i-if we play truth or dare again, I'd be okay if we picked up where we left off, ya know? Does that, um… does that make sense?"

It made perfect sense, especially to Doreen. She looked to see if Ken and Tomas were paying attention, then looked to Nancy, who seemed to know what Doreen had in mind. She looked the other direction, allowing her friend to do what she always tried to make herself do when she was this nervous... go for it!

Without warning, Doreen threw her arms around Akamaru's neck and pulled him into a kiss. Akamaru kissed her back instantly, pulling the girl as close to his body as she could get. The two stayed like this for a couple of seconds before breaking, both with a great big smile on their faces. Doreen giggled and told Akamaru, "I'm gonna leave me phone out here. Put your name in it, memorized my number, and CALL ME! Got it?"

"You bet," Akamaru replied, "Can I call someone to come get me first?"

Doreen nodded, gave Akamaru another peck on the lips, and skipped off to her room humming a happy little tune to herself. So, Akamaru called his sister, (this time she actually picked up) to say they'd find Naruto tomorrow but for now he was just going to regroup with Hinata. Kiba told him she'd actually already found Naruto and she was headed to where he was staying now, but that Akamaru would probably be better off heading home. Based on how he'd heard Kiba talk about Naruto, he had a feeling his sister was right. So, he headed home… after he had Nancy help him use the phone to get directions to the hotel, (him being lost still hadn't changed).

* * *

Back at Naruto's hotel room, it seemed like the 'race' was about to be over. Hinata and Kiba were both in the parking lot, having arrived mere seconds early, only at the opposite ends. They were walking towards the staircase, wondering if they'd won the bet, when they first locked eyes with one another. The two of them were standing just close enough to see the other person smirk as they started a mad dash for the stairs to get up to Naruto's room. Normally, Hinata would've won the race with ease, but she was still wearing the heels she'd put on for the whole Killgrave debacle, so it was a level playing field.

They were neck and neck when they got to the stairs, rushing towards the third floor, and they would stay that way right up until they reached the door. Hinata and Kiba's hands hit the doorknob and the same time and they both knew it. The two of them looked at another and smiled, but Hinata was the first to speak, "Guess your nose is better than I thought."

"Eh, it was kinda the nose, kinda some help from friends. You know how it is."

"Yeah, I do. My PI seemed to think Naruto's going to be happy to see us, and happy to hear about a particular somebody I took out today."

"Sounds like we went on similar adventures."

Both girls laughed at that. They looked into each other's eyes for a moment, not saying a word, but perfectly understanding what the other was thinking. In unison, they said, "Together." Then knocked on the door and proceeded to wait.

It wasn't long before there call was answered and they found the man they were searching for waiting for them, "Yeah, what… what… what the fuck?"

"Hey, Naruto. Do you um… do you know who we are?" Asked Hinata.

Naruto blinked a couple of times and said, "Hinata Hyuuga and… Kiba's cousin?"

"Actually, I am Kiba. I'm a girl, have been my whole life, it was a clan thing, I'll give ya the full story later."

She'd listed those facts off so fast that Naruto barely had time to comprehend them, "Okay, but how are you here?"

Hinata shuffled her feet, trying her best to keep her heart from exploding out of her chest, "It's a long story. Can we talk inside?"

"Um… yeah, totally," Naruto answer. His mind was still exploding at the moment, even with the all the weird shit he'd seen in his lifetime.

The two ladies walked into Naruto's room, with Kiba getting a great big whiff of his scent on the way in. She physically shuttered at the smell, "Ohhhh, that alpha sent! Yummmy!"

Kiba grabbed Naruto shirt and tried to nip at his neck, but Hinata stopped her before she could give the blonde a nice big hickey, "Kiba, behave yourself."

"Sorry, sorry! I'm just in that kind of mood and that SMELL-"

"I know but we can wait," Hinata scolded, looking Naruto up and down, "Not that it wouldn't be a lot of fun…"

Naruto could tell what they were talking about, and it was making him anxious, "Could you guys not talk about that? It's been awhile, awhile for me anyways, and it's working me up."

That didn't sound like the worst thing in the world to Hinata, and she was the most level headed person in the room, "P-perhaps introductions and explanations would go more smoothly if we took care of our 'u-urges' before hand. Kiba and myself, we're um… we're dealing with the same 'a-appetites' that we've been told you have, and we know how difficult focusing can be. The three of us could really h-help one another, if you'd like. I hope I don't look silly. This isn't the type of thing I usually w-wear."

"But she'll paint your dick the same color as that lipstick if you let her," Kiba cut in, seizing her chance. Hinata was acting nervous for the first time in who knew how long, and that wasn't going to get the ladies what they wanted. But Kiba knew what would. "And believe me, she is good with her tongue. Look at those fucking curves, too! Seriously, look!"

Kiba grabbed the straps of Hinata's dress and pulled them down to her waist, showing of her sizable bust. Naruto nearly passed out from shock at the sight of them, "Holy sweet mother of God!"

"They're perfect, right?" Kiba asked, cupping one of the mounds in her hands. Hinata yelped, but her labido was running too strong for her to try and stop any of this, "So, what do you say? We all know about each others problems, so let's help each other out!"

This was insane. Naruto had two perfect women in front of him, hell bent on fucking his brains out, and he was almost tempted to say no. Not because of the suddenness. No, it actually felt weirdly right to think about making love to these two. It was Laura that had Naruto worried, but then, she'd already given her blessing for Naruto to do what he had to do to deal with being a Ghost Rider. With all that, could he really turn down what he'd just been offered.

"What, um… what did you have in mind?" Naruto asked, his mouth dry.

Normally, Kiba would answer this kind of question, but Hinata found herself compelled to answer first, "I want you behind me, Kiba in front of me, and me on all four in the middle, pleasuring you both."

If Naruto had been holding a glass at that moment, it would've shattered in his hand as he nearly went insane at the mere thought of that. Any thoughts about refusing were gone by that point, "Both of you, on the bed, now."

"Now this is what I call an introduction," Kiba cried, her eyes wide with excitement, and the excitement would be well met.

They'd start with what Hinata had spoken off, and by the end of the night, they'd all know each other's body like a roadmap. The hotel room would end up trashed, every conceivable surface would be used, and sleep would be the last thing on anyone's mind. It was the sort of thing the great Toad Sage Jiraiya himself would have blushed at the very mention of. Most important of all though, it was GOOD!


	10. Racing Hearts Pt 2

It's the time again, ladies and gentlemen! Another chapter of Uzumaki Rider is here, and everyone's finally all in one place. With that in motion, we can hopefully get the ball really rolling in the following chapters. Last chapter we left off with Naruto and the girls finally meeting up, along with everything that entails, and so it only makes sense that we pick up from there. What comes after that, you'll have to read in order to find out. Needless to say, their problems are from over now that they're all together. If anything, they've just begun. Also, the after this chapter certain scheduling issue are supposed to become less prevalent, so updates may, I repeat, MAY become more frequent, or at least that's what we're hoping, but don't count on it. Thank you all so much for reading and be sure to review.

 **RESPONSE TO GUEST REVIEW ON PREVIOUS CHAPTER:** On the last chapter a guest reviewer brought up some criticism. In the unlikely event that this reviewer is still reading, we both encourage you to create an account so that we can have a personal discussion over the issues that you see, failing that we would still like to address this review. First, this story is listed as a "Marvel" crossover, meaning we are not limiting our selection of characters to only one title within the Marvel universe. While it may appear that we are following "rule of cool" and putting in every character we like, we would like to assure you and all our readers that each character introduced is going to play a role in the larger story. Second, this is by no means a DxD story, if it was we'd have written the lemons by now. As far as turning Naruto into an OC, granted Naruto's character has been tweaked a little, but this is fanfiction we're talking about, where character's attributes can be shifted very easily (we made Kiba a woman for crying out loud!), so while we may change somethings about the characters, we will continue to keep their core personality traits. Even if we don't agree with the majority of this review, we will keep it in mind as we strive to improve our writing abilities and deliver a better story, and a better experience for our readers.

Chapter Soundtrack - Blue Saraceno: The River

* * *

Showers were the order of the day when sun rose on Naruto's hotel room. Everyone was drenched in sweat, for obvious reasons, and ignoring that wasn't really an option. They showered individually, figuring it'd be better not to tempt themselves any further, with Hinata going first, followed by Kiba, and ending with Naruto (they went alphabetically).

When Naruto exited the shower, he did so just in time to hear the door knock. It was more than likely for him, so Naruto threw his clothes on and headed for the door while the girls laid sprawled out on the bed watching television. Akamaru turned out to be the person waiting for him, not that Naruto had any idea who he was.

The blonde just sort of blankly stared at Akamaru when he saw the young man. There was certainly something familiar about him, but Naruto couldn't quite but his finger on it, "Um… hi. Have we meet before?"

Kiba, seeing a fun opportunity before her, cut in before Akamaru had the chance to really explain, "You don't remember my little brother? That hurts Naruto, that really hurts."

"This whole thing is confusing enough without you bullshiting him, Kiba," Hinata scolded. "It's Akamaru."

"How is that any less confusing?"

A good question, and one Akamaru would answer himself, "I ate something I shouldn't have when I was a dog, it screwed me up real bad, and they had to turn me into a human to keep me alive."

"Still weird, but I can kinda buy that," Naruto said. The whole conversation made him remember what they said they do after they were done with their night of pleasure, "Weren't you guys gonna tell me how the hell you ended up here too? Now that I think about, I haven't really told you how I got here either. Huh… we should probably take care of that."

Akamaru agreed, but had to pipe in first, "Can we do it over breakfast? I'm starving right now."

It was impossible for Kiba not to roll her eyes, "You're always hungry… but I guess breakfast wouldn't be the worst idea. Could be nice to fill up while we get our stories all line up."

"I know a diner around here that should have something we'll all be good with," Said Naruto. "This oughta be interesting."

That was a hell of an understatement. Although it wasn't as much of an understatement as what Akamaru was about to say after he sniffed the air, "Geeze, smells like somebody had a good time last night."

* * *

The two Ghost Riders were no longer separated. Their flames traveled together now, something that made them burn all that much brighter. Unfortunately, flames that burn as bright as theirs tend to attract attention. In this case, that attention came from a man, riding towards New York at top speed to see why so much of hellish power had made its way into one location. This person was someone neither Naruto or Hinata had ever crossed paths with ever before, but that didn't mean he would feel like a total stranger to them…

He was one of their kind, after all.

* * *

The ex-shinobi nearly gave their poor waiter a heart attack when they got the diner. He'd gotten some big orders in his day, but this many plates of food for a mere four people? Now that was downright insane. They couldn't even sit at a four person table because it wouldn't hold the amount of food they'd ordered. If only the supernatural shinobi could've told the poor waiter that this was perfectly normal for a group like theirs.

Once the food, coffee, and juices had been served, it was time to fill everyone in on what they needed to know. Naruto's story didn't raise to many eyebrows, in fact it was almost exactly what Hinata had expected in regards to how he got here, Sasuke murdering him was the only thing that really made any sense. What she did have questions about was why their chakra didn't seem to work here and where the hell the Kyuubi had gone.

Naruto was able to answer both of those questions easily enough, "The reason our chakra doesn't work around here is because of dimensional differences. This place might have all the components that make up chakra, but it was the Sage of the Six Paths that actually made the Tailed Beasts and helped start a whole race of decescedent that could use chakra. Long story short, without him and everything he did, whatever chakra we could muster up here would amount to much of anything. Someone like Kurama, that's the Kyuubi's real name, wouldn't really have a problem with that because she's literally made of chakra. She replenishes it naturally. I think she'd probably be less powerful here than in our dimension though, thanks to some of the stuff I talked about before. All of that's really over simplifying everything, but it's the best that I can understand from what Mephisto told me."

With one mention of his name, they were back on Mephisto. That rotten bastard really had managed to ruffle a whole lot of feathers. Hinata, Kiba, and Akamaru explained how they came to reside in their current dimension, and none of it really surprised Naruto too much. Even the stuff with Akamaru made sense when the full story came out. It pissed Naruto off to no end that Mephisto had manipulate his friends into coming here, but if nothing else, he was pretty overjoyed to have some familiar faces around.

What did surprise Naruto, however, was the bit about Mephisto being afraid of something. The idea that Mephisto could get so riled about one foe that he'd go through all this seemed crazy to the Uzumaki, even if it did explain the behavior his boss had been showing off as of late.

"Okay, I think that's all of it," Kiba said, finding that the bit about Dormammu and the summary of everything they'd done since arriving to be a good stopping point. Their plates were empty, their stomachs were fulls, and their stories had been told. "Now that we're all on the same page, it's time to figure out what the hell we're doing next."

"Oh, I know what I'm doing next," Hinata said, reaching into her pocket. She pulled out the card Mephisto had given her, one that looked nearly identical to Naruto's, and took it in both hands. "Now that we've got Naruto back, it's time to kick our 'Boss' to the curb."

No one could get so much as a word in before Hinata began ripping her card to shreds. Naruto nearly had a stroke as he watched the pieces of enchanted paper floating to the floor, "Hinata! Do you have any clue what you just did?"

"More or less. Mephisto's going to be chasing after me now. Far as I'm concerned though, our deals over. I worked for him; he gave me what I wanted. Simple."

"No, not simple. Mephisto's contracts are for a lifetime. He's going to track you down, and believe me, he's got ways of making sure you keep what he thinks is your end of the bargain."

"So let him. I'm willing to bet we could outrun that bastard. Even if we do get caught, at least we'll have been free for a while, right? What can he do to us while we're on the run?"

Naruto knew the answer was supposed to be 'nothing.' Yet, his life had never been what it was supposed to be. "He can go after people we care about. I've got a girlfriend. Her name's Laura and I'd go to hell and back for her. She knows about my 'issues' and we've got an open relationship to compensate for it. Mephisto probably knows about her, and he wouldn't bat an eye before going after her to get to me."

As far as problems went, this one didn't seem all that complicated to Akamaru. "So we'll go and grab her. We can keep her safe ourselves, can't we?"

"I don't know. She's with the X-Men, and she feels pretty at home there. I'd hate to rip away after she just started to get settled in."

While Hinata wasn't a fan of hearing about Naruto's 'girlfriend' (she knew she had no claim to the Uzumaki, but that didn't help to subside her jealousy), she had a feeling this Luara person would be just fine. "Naruto, you just said she's with the X-Men. I haven't been here that long, but even I know Mephisto wouldn't have an easy time trying to get past them. I've heard they've got a guy who can transport between this world and Hell or something like that! She'll be fine, and you know it."

"'Know' it might be a strong way to put it," Naruto mumbled, pulling out his own card. He stared at it for some time before he spoke again. "But you could be right. I've been putting up with Mephisto's bullshit for too long. Maybe it's time for me to cut the cord."

Kiba was tired of listening to all this, "Look, just do what we all know you're gonna do and tear up the fucking card before I do it for ya!"

He couldn't say for certain, but from what Naruto remembered, Kiba almost sounded almost exactly like what her mother had when she'd yell at somebody. It was enough to make Naruto both smile and take his card in both hands, just like Hinata had. However, unlike Hinata, he had to take a deep breath before he could make that first tear. This was the life he'd been living for a long time now, and saying goodbye wasn't easy.

"Welp… here goes nothing."

Naruto felt the paper give way in his hands. It was far less durable than he'd been expecting, no more sturdy than a regular card would be. Still, it was cathartic beyond reason just how good it felt to destroy the object of his torment. The whole thing was over in a matter of seconds, but gave Naruto enough pleasure to last a year. "Fuck… yes…"

"Geez, I haven't seen him look that happy since… well, last night actually," Kiba said, chuckling at her memories of their previous encounter. "That does remind me though. Seeing as you've got a girlfriend, Naruto, where the does that leave me and Hinata?"

"I've been trying to figure that out myself," Naruto admitted. "I'm not going to lie to you. I care about Laura a lot, and I've never really seen myself as a harem guy. Granted, I have to have a lot of sex, but I wouldn't act that way if I didn't have to. Starting a relationship with other girls? I don't know if I'd feel right about that."

Admirable, but not all that realistic if you asked Hinata, "It's not that simple, Naruto. Unless you only ever have sex with someone once or twice, you're bound to develop feelings for them. You start to associate the positive feels you get from the chemicals sex releases with that person."

Naruto blinked in confusion, "Huh?"

"Jesus, Naruto, we learned about all this in Sex Ed back at the academy." Kiba grumbled.

That was true. A shinobi's sexual education was quite extensive; it had to be in order to prepare the students for the all to adult world they were about to enter. Naruto, however, never had that luxury, "Um, guys? Did you forget that the teachers refused to give me proper Sex Ed? They said there was no way they would teach that 'thing' how to reproduce."

"I'm pretty sure I got better treatment than you did back in the Hidden Leaf, and I was a fucking dog!" Akamaru blurted out. Thankfully, no one had heard him, because that would be a difficult fucking sentence to explain.

Naruto shrugged it off, "You're not wrong. But even if what Hinata said is true, which sounds about right based on my experiences, what does it matter? You really think Laura would be okay with me having more than one real girlfriend?"

"You never know until you ask," Kiba said, leaning on Hinata shoulder, "I know me and Hinata would be okay with it. It's not ideal, but given the circumstances, it might be the only option we've got. If we've got ourselves a group, we can always make sure someone's got a buddy to take care of their needs. We all know each other, so there'd be less hurt and jealousy. Sure, it'll take some adjusting to, but I think we can do it."

"That… actually makes a lot of sense."

Hinata had a triumphant grin on her face, "Then I think you need to call Laura later. Who knows, maybe she'll be more interested than you think."

"Hell, me and Hinata are married and we're still fine with it."

That last bit couldn't go unresponded to, "Wait, you guys weren't kidding about that?"

Kiba couldn't help but smile, "Nope, we're married alright. Me and Hinata share everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING."

"I think we made that point pretty clear to him last night," Hinata piped in with a giggle.

Rather than keep on listening to this, Naruto decided it was time to pay their bill, "You two keep on laughing while I go pay the bill. Mephisto's gonna figure out what's going on any minute. I need to use his money while I still can and then it's time for our ass's to hit the road. Time to see if we can outrun the Devil."

"Huh, that's kind of a cool line," Akamaru said to himself. "Hopefully they won't waste it in a shitty movie or something…"

If a certain Merc with a Mouth had been around at that moment, he would've complained Akamaru had just stolen his joke.

* * *

Mephisto, on the other hand, was finding something far less comical to complain about. The card that Naruto and Hinata used did more than just tell him his Rider's locations. They were designed to set off an alarm in Mephisto's head if they were ever destroyed, though that particular function was meant to help the card's creator know if his Rider's were in trouble. In this case, they told the demon lord something much different.

'Those little fucking traitors,' Mephisto thought. He stood in the middle of what was supposed to be Naruto's hotel room, finding it to be completely empty. What's more, he felt the residual energy of a presence that had no business being there, 'Hinata and Kiba disobeyed me and found the boy before I was ready for them too. Next thing you know, their cards get destroyed mere minutes apart? Considering Dormammu hasn't taken over our dimension yet, I'm gonna go ahead and say it's time to get my bounty hunters in line. Where to start though?"

That was a good question indeed. Without their cards active, Mephisto couldn't do much to track them. What's more, he couldn't think of anyone to threaten. Anyone Hinata and Kiba cared about where in another dimension where Mephisto had little effect, and Naruto was likely already traveling with the only people he gave that much of a shit about. What about some kind of attack some random innocents? Naruto and his friends were just a bunch of giant softies, they'd never allow people to but hurt in their name. Ah, but that would attract the attention of other heroes and Mephisto was busy enough as it was.

'There has to be someone I can hold over Naruto's head. What about that little mutant he's grown so fond of? Hm… but she's with the X-men, and that's not an easy group to tangle with, even for me. Best I can do is take a peek at her for now. There might be something there I can exploit. But first…'

Mephisto's eyes and face contorted in the same twisted way they had on the night he'd reminded Naruto of his place in the hotel. His anger was the same level it had been that night too, which explained the tantrum he was about to throw. Tantrum was just about the only word that could describe it too, not matter how childish it may have seemed.

First, Mephisto snapped his fingers and set the bed ablaze. The smell of smoke had always had a calming effect on him. Next, he turned his attention to the dresser in the room, stomping into nothing but splinters with one lightning quick blow. Of course the tv was par for the course to, smashing his first through the screen before burning the rest of it to ash with his fingertips. It was ridiculous to be sure, but it did result in much of Mephisto anger subsiding.

His work done, Mephisto let the fire subside so it wouldn't spread to other rooms and gather a bunch of attention, then proceeded to leave the hotel with one hell of a confused manager the next day.

* * *

While Mephisto was busy with all that nonsense, Dr. Strange was off getting some actual work done. Dormammu wasn't going to slow down, which meant it was time to set aside petty problems and start handling the situation. The Sorcerer Supreme setup some powerful magic, ensured all those who needed to be informed were (not that they were too happy with the idea), and then braced himself for a conversation with his mortal enemy.

Strange was sitting in his own study, one that had once belonged to the sorcerer who'd taught him, directly facing a full body mirror. All Strange had left to do was speak the enchantment and let the mirror do the rest of the work. The words he spoke would sound like gibberish to a normal person, but they held great meaning to a person like him. As he spoke them, Strange but his hand on the mirror and the image it once reflected began to change. What used to be a splitting image of the good doctor was filled with a purple haze, the kind of smoke Strange could hardly see through. There was however, a twisted maw visible along with a pair of glowing eyes.

"Dormammu," Doctor Strange identified his old nemesis. "It's been a long time."

"Indeed it has, Sorcerer," Dormammu's incredible deep, elegant voice replied. "Though I can't exactly say I've missed you."

"Neither can I, but circumstances have forced my hand. Circumstances involving you."

"Of what do you speak, fool?"

There was no hiding the disdain in Strange's voice, "Don't play this game with me, Dormammu. Satannish has already confessed to working for you."

"Then he lies. I'm in no position to be ordering around anyone at the moment."

Dormammu might have sounded convincing, but Strange had enough evidence to call him on his bullshit. "We've found a dozen Dark Dimension weapons in this world. Stop lying to me so we can start talking about a way to settle all this before it gets out of hand."

A chuckle echoed from the voice in the mirror. "I have no doubt you found the weapons, but they by no means belong to me, Strange. You act as though I'm the only one with power in the Dark Dimension."

"Satannish said he's working for **you**."

"And I'm sure he believes as much, but you've got no evidence we've met in person, and my magics are not impossible to replicate… especially for one person."

Strange realized what Dormammu was implying, "You're saying Umar's the one behind all this?"

Umar was the sister of Dormammu, someone who was nearly capable of matching the ruler of the Dark Dimension in raw strength. Hell, based on what Dormammu was claiming, she may have even surpassed him. "Umar's gotten tired of her role. I let myself get cocky and she stabbed me in the back with one of her spells. She's taken enough of my strength for herself to grow more powerful than even I. The Dark Dimension is now her domain. I've been too isolated to figure out much, but I believe she's using my name to throw the people of your realm of her scent long enough for her strike when you least expect it."

"A nice story… but can you back it up with something real?"

"After all the years you've known me, Strange, you should by now I've got too much pride to let you think anyone but me could control the Dark Dimension. What's more, you know my tactics. Are they anything like Umar's?"

Two excellent points, especially the bit about Umar's tactics. All Strange and Mephisto had been able to talk about was how out of character Dormammu had been acting. All the bits and pieces fit together, but none of it helped Strange, "Well, at least the call's been enlightening. I'll let you get back to being the lesser sibling."

"Don't go yet, you idiot. Does the phrase 'the enemy of the my enemy is my friend' mean anything to you?"

"First, friends don't call each other idiots. Second, whether we're both interested in seeing Umar overthrown or not, I'd sooner trust Mephisto than I would you, and I wish to God I could say that was only a hypothetical situation, but your sister is finding all kinds of ways to make my life hell lately."

Another chuckle from the mirror, "As you wish, Sorcerer. When you need my help, you'll know where to find me. Good luck."

* * *

After their meal, the group of ex-Mephisto minions decided to split up for a bit. Akamaru had somehow gotten in his head that he just had to enroll in college at ESU, where his new crush just so happened to be going to school, and he needed Kiba's help to get it done. She was a little bummed at the iea of leaving Naruto after she only just got to see him again, but Akamaru instead she needed to let 'her wife and her boyfriend have a little alone time.' If there was one phrase that summed up just how strange their group was, that was it.

After promising Kiba would get a sort of 'date night' of her own, the group agreed to let everyone go their separate ways. That meant Hinata and Naruto could walk through the streets of New York, coffee and cinnamon rolls in their hands, and have some time just to themselves. It was something they would have only dreamed of a month ago.

"How's the cinnamon roll?" Naruto asked.

"Not bad," Hinata replied with a shrug. "The ones back at the Hidden Leaf were better, but this still hits the spot."

"What about the coffee?"

"Kinda weak, but not the worst cup I've ever had."

"Yeah, even when you ask for it strong, it doesn't have the same punch as the stuff back home. You're having a good time though?"

Hinata giggled at Naruto's barrage of questions, "It's great, Naruto. Everything I've ever wanted since our academy days."

The academy? Now that took Naruto back. "Geeze I haven't thought about that place in God knows how long. Hard to believe I was ever that oblivious to world around me."

"At least you actually talked to people. It's a miracle I had a single friend when I was a kid."

"Nah, you were sweat; I was fucking obnoxious."

A little harsh, but not untrue, "And now we're a couple of badass demonic bounty hunters ready to take the world. Least you can't say our lives are boring."

"Think we'll get anymore old friends from the Leaf stopping by? Maybe even one or two with big gender reveals like Kiba?"

Hinata laughed at the idea, "I doubt it, but I guess you never know. Ino used to joke about Sakura being a guy, but she actually started fill out a bit after you um... left. It's not much, but she's got bit of chest. Shino's always got that coat on though. Who knows, maybe he's got something to hide. I'm only kidding but-"

"Now that you mention it, I don't think I ever saw him change once or shower in the locker rooms with me the other shinobi," Naruto cut in.

As interesting as this conversation could've gotten it, it wouldn't go much further than there. The duo had yet to notice a man in a leather jacket leaning up against a nearby tree. He had slicked-back blonde hair and looked like he'd been ripped right of the set of a movie where he was Kurt Russell's stunt-double. Taking the cigarette he'd been smoking from his mouth, the man dropped it on the pavement, stomped it into ash, and turned to Naruto and Hinata just as they were about to pass him, "Mephisto's takin' em awful young these days. Well… guess I was pretty young when I signed on too. Naive and desperate always was his type."

"Do we know you?" Naruto asked, every muscle in his body on full alert. Hinata had put herself in the same state.

"The name's Johnny Blaze. I'm you, just about twenty or thirty years wiser."

Hinata connected the dots in her head, "One of Mephisto's previous Ghost Riders?"

A nod from Blaze, "Previous being the key word there. He and I parted ways a long time ago. Spend most of my time now keepin' an eye on the prick and his associates… which brings me to the two of you."

"No, it brings us to nothing. Ghost Rider or not, we don't know you and you don't know us. You wanna talk? Fine; just don't walk up to me and Hinata and expect us to play nice with you right off the bat. Set up a meeting when we're not in the middle of a fuck date, and then we can compare notes. That sound reasonable?"

Johnny didn't say anything for some time. He was too busy trying to reconcile how simultaneously impressed and pissed off he was in that moment, "Been a long time since anybody talked to me like that, Uzumaki. I came all this way to meet you and the lovely little miss Hyuuga here. How about shwoin' me some respect?"

"Do you consider showing up unannounced like this respectful?" Asked Hinata.

These kids just kept getting better and better, "I suppose not. Long as I'm being rude, let me ask ya something… what's your relationship with Mephisto like?"

Simultaneously, Hinata and Naruto declared, "Non-existent."

"Good answer. Final question; what part of New York has the least amount of people in it? Nothing more than ten minutes from here though; I'm not in the mood to walk too far."

Naruto wasn't sure whether or not he wanted to answer the question. Seeing as silence wouldn't get them anywhere, he decided to go for it, "This is probably as few people as you're gonna get around here."

"Then I guess there's no point in waiting. I'm sure people'll clear out when they see what's goin' down."

Rather waste time asking what he meant, Naruto and Hinata transformed into their rider forms instantly and prepared for whatever might be coming. A smart move, considering that Johnny had shifted into his rider form just as fast. It resembles Naruto's a fait bit, only with less spikes on his jacket, less tears in his jeans, and a redder hue to his flames. His voice took a darker, more gravely turn just like Naruto and Hinata's did as well.

"You guys don't fuck around, do ya? Good, I'm in the mood for a real workout!"

Johnny held out his hand and a flaming chain materialized within it. With a flick of his wrist, he swung his chain and the battle began.

* * *

"My wife drives better than you." Kiba grumbled as she hopped off the back of her brother's motorcycle and followed him onto the college campus.

In response, Akamaru rolled his eyes and countered with a classic, "It wasn't that bad, and we both know that those cabbies cut me off."

"Whatever, but next time I'm insisting we grab helmets." The woman then paused as she took a quick look around where teenagers and twenty-somethings were gathered in groups, pouring over books and laptops littering the outdoor tables. "Why are we here anyway? It's not like either of us have a desire for more bullshit school."

"Maybe you don't, but I sure as shit wouldn't mind actually learning something." Akamaru said. Turning to see his sister's raised eyebrow, he elaborated by saying, "Back home I was always 'Kiba's dog,' and here I'm still just 'Kiba's brother.' I'm hoping this'll be an opportunity for me to learn somethings that set me apart; something that'll just make me Akamaru."

Having grown up in her older sister's shadow, Kiba knew the desire to make a name of your own. Patting her little brother on the shoulder, the woman said, "I get it, and if this makes you happy then go for it; just don't be expecting me help with your homework."

Akamaru smiled at his sister and opened his mouth to reply before a new voice called out, "Akamaru!"

Kiba could definitely say she didn't know the young woman that was making her way over to the pair, but her brother evidently did as he called out, "Hey Doreen!"

Once he got close enough, Akamaru pulled her into a hug. 'Apparently' Kiba thought, 'He knows her quite well.'

After the hug, Doreen took a step back, noticing Kiba for the first time. Quickly addressing the other woman, Doreen held out her hand and said, "Hi, I'm Doreen, but I guess you already figured that out. Are you a friend of Akamaru's?"

Taking the offered hand, Kiba gave a smirk as she replied, "I guess you could say that. I'm Kiba, this annoyance's older sister."

"Oh, the one that swiped his phone yesterday?" Doreen challenged, but didn't give Kiba a chance to answer as she asked, "Did you find your friend you were looking for?"

Flashing back to the previous night and all it entailed, Kiba's face broke into a goofy grin as she replied, "Oh yeah, I definitely found my friend."

Knowing where his sister's mind was heading, Akamaru grabbed Doreen's shoulder to shift her away from Kiba as he said, "Just ignore her, my sister can be a real of a perv at times. So how did the group project go?"

Easily switching to the current topic, Doreen said, "Oh, it went fine. Just a little elbow grease and we're good to go!" Not sure what to say next, Doreen asked, "So what are you doing here? Not that you aren't allowed to come here, it's just that after last night…"

To stop Doreen from rambling, and embarrassing him in front of Kiba, Akamaru quickly replied, "Well since my sister found her friend, it looks like I'll be staying in the city for a while. I had planned on taking a break year, but figured I'd take advantage of the opportunity."

"That's great!" Doreen quickly exclaimed, before bringing her voice down to a more acceptable level, "But it's pretty late in the semester, you're going to have a lot of catch up work."

"Well maybe if I had a tutor I could get caught up quickly." The teen flirted.

"I suppose you could." Doreen flirted back before saying, "Anywoo, if you're going to take programing with me and Nancy, and get stuck in entry algebra without us, then you should probably take some easy courses. Dr. Parker is pretty chill about Photography I since his main focus is on teaching chemistry, just make sure you get the assignments turned in on time and you're practically guaranteed an A." She then took a moment to think before saying, "If you're looking for another science class then you might take Zoology I with Dr. Conner. It's not the easiest class, but the he's good about making time for tutoring."

"Both sound like great suggestions." Akamaru said with a smile.

Doreen returned the smile and opened her mouth to reply, only for a loud beeping from her phone to grab her attention. Quickly pulling the device from her pocket, the girl's eyes grew big before saying, "It was nice talking to you, but I've got to run." She then gave Akamaru another quick hug, along with a quick kiss on his cheek, before rushing off.

As Kiba watched Doreen walk away, she commented, "She's cute."

"She is." Akamaru agreed as he walked towards the administration building.

"Never took you for an assman." His sister remarked.

"Didn't think I was one either." Akamaru replied through gritted teeth, not liking where the conversation was going.

Kiba shrugged her shoulders before stating, "Either way, I can see how you spent last night."

"I didn't sleep with her." Akamaru stated, to Kiba's great surprise.

"But aren't you guys going out?" Kiba asked. "You two seemed awfully friendly back there."

"I don't know what we are." Her brother answered. "I mean we've kissed once, and I've been to her place but we haven't been on a date or really had the time to put a label on this thing." The teen then sighed before ensure the pair were alone and turning to his sister to say, "Look, I'd be lying if I said I don't want to fuck her, but when I'm around her it feels different than all my other hookups and I don't want to mess this up, whatever it is."

Seeing how distraught her brother was over this, Kiba decided to give some advice, "Listen, you like this girl so just be yourself and if it's meant to be, everything will work out."

Although knowing how sincere his sister was being, Akamaru still snorted and asked, "Does that actually work?"

"How do you think I got with Hinata?" Kiba asked with a smile. Before Akamaru could respond, his sister nodded to the nearest building and said, "We're here, let's go ahead and sign your soul away for the next few years."

It turned out not to be too difficult to register Akamaru for classes, no matter how late into the semester it already was. After being helped by a kind, middle-aged lady who helped set up Akamaru's schedule with Doreen's suggested classes, the pair were pointed to the direction of the campus bookstore. While everything seemed fine, Kiba noticed one gigantic problem. After taking a quick peek at the cost for classes, the woman asked, "Just how are you paying for this? Since Hinata and Naruto ripped up their cards it isn't like we have infinite money anymore."

"With my own money." was Akamaru's immediate response. When his sister didn't further comment, he pulled out his phone. "Doreen and Nancy were working on a class project between hands of poker last night, I managed to pick up a few things. When I got home, I stumbled onto some scientific think tank with way too much money to burn. I figured since they were investing in scientific discovery, they wouldn't mind helping to pay my tuition. I managed to hack the website, find their bank account, and transfer some funds to me." At that he held out his phone to Kiba, showing off the impressive balance on his bank account.

Kiba would have commented on that, and asked for some spare change, had she not noticed a group of strangely dressed men hopping out of vans and marching onto campus. There hadn't been any signs to announce a special event. She wondered aloud, "Is there some kinda beekeeping convention going on?"

Those 'beekeepers' Kiba was referring to were dressed entirely in yellow and had writing on shoulders that read A.I.M. Oh, and there was also the small matter of the fact that they were all holding strange looking automatic rifles in their hands. They pointed those rifles at the siblings as one of screamed out, "Both of you, get on the ground now! You are not move an inch until M.O.D.O.K. arrives! He wants both of you alive!"

"Akamaru, that think tank you found wouldn't happened to be named A.I.M., would it?"

"Ya know what? I think you might be right… but how did they find us so quickly?"

"Ask questions later, kick ass now!"

"Good idea."

* * *

Things seemed to be heating up everywhere. Logically speaking, one would expect two Ghost Riders to make quick work of against a lone member of their own kind. That math didn't check out in this particular occasion. Hinata and Naruto had hardly left so much as a mark on Johnny, while he keeping them on their toes at every littler turn. All that trouble, and blaze had only just begun.

"Come on! Is the best fire you can muster?" Johnny taunted them, dodging yet another fireball from Naruto. "I'd be surprised if you could melt a steel beam!"

"Melt this, you fucking prick," Naruto shouted, jetting his arms out to fire a beam of pure hellfire that struck Johnny directly in the chest.

The fellow Ghost Rider slid back a few feet, but managed to stay standing. It scorched Johnny's jacket a fair bit as well, something that didn't go unnoticed, "There ya go! That's what I wanted to see; a little fire in ya!"

Hinata used her whip to grab one of Johnny's wrists, pulling him over to her, "We've all got fire, asshole! How about we try something new?"

That was something new was Hinata's plowing her fist into Johnny's head, sending him skidding a few dozen feet across the pavement. Crash and thuds echoed throughout the park, which was had emptied out in record time after the brawl began, and Johnny was left to try and recover from an attack that would've turned a normal man into pile of organ meat. He stood up from the blow as easily as an normal person would from a somewhat nasty fall.

"I wouldn't exactly call that new, but I give you this… that punch had some bite to it." Johnny remarked as he brushed himself off.

Naruto's face (er... skull?) fell and he groaned, "Oh come on! Barley even a scratch? We're gonna be at this day!"

"Not gonna happen. Sorry, but three Ghost Rider throwin' fire at each other for hours on end is gonna get boring real quick. I think I'll go ahead and speed this whole process along if ya don't mind."

Something about that didn't' sound too friendly to Hinata, "Speed it up how exactly?"

Johnny summoned his flaming chain again and used to snatch up Naruto by the waist. The young man wasn't quick enough to counter and soon found himself being yanked into his foe's grasp. Holding Naruto by the neck, Johnny growled, "Alright, newbie… let's see what kinda metal you're made of."

"Let him go," Hinata cired, charging at Johnny.

The fellow Ghost Rider snapped his fingers. With a roaring engine, a flaming motorcycle much like Naruto and Hinata's came rushing into view and crashed into Hinata before she could get anywhere near Johnny. Since was pinned down, Johnny was easily able to get to what he'd really come for. Naruto squirmed as the flames in Johnny's eye sockets burned hotter than any flame know to man, "Feel the weight of your soul, Naruto Uzumaki! Feel the power of the Pennett Stare turned against you!"

Oh, he felt it alright, only it wasn't what he'd expected. The Pennett Stare and all its horror didn't work on fellow Riders the way it did on mortals. It made them feel the weight of their sins, but it didn't create and the same pain it otherwise would and allowed the person using it (in this case Johnny), to see a sort of portrait of the person's life. Johnny got glimpse into all that Naruto had been through. Needless to say, it left an impact.

"Sweet… Jesus… Christ."

Johnny dropped Naruto and reeled back, trying to shake the boys memories out of his head. When Naruto landed, he wasn't much happier, "Don't ever do that again! That was… that was… fuck me! Just don't do it!"

"Don't worry, kid. I wanna stay as far away from that head as I fucking can for the rest of my life," Johnny told him. He powered down and offered Naruto a helping hand up. "It's miracle you're not tearin' up the fucking city after everything you've been through."

Naruto had been dealing with more than enough fighting for one day. He transformed into his human and took Johnny hand before standing up and dusting himself off. "Call it whatever ya want, doesn't change the fact that you ruined our date."

By this point, Hinata had managed to get back on her feet and into her human form as well, and she was just as pissed as her lover, "After the shit you pulled, you owe some answers, starting with why you're here in first place!"

"Not an unreasonable request," Johnny said with a shrug. "Tell ya what; we'll go to a bar somewhere and I'll buy everybody drinks. We can talk there and I'll get us good and drunk to make up for his whole thing."

Hinata was about to agree when she felt her phone go off in her pocket. She ripped it out of her pocket, looked at who was calling her, and put to her ear with a grumble, "Kiba, this isn't really… wait, what? I can't hear you. I said I can't hear you! What do you mean there's a fight? Can't you guys… hello? Hello? Shit!" She hung up the phone and turned to her lover, "Naruto, we need to get over to ESU. Kiba and Akamaru got themselves in some deep shit. Johnny, you're coming too. You can buy drinks after we get this shit sorted out."

"I'm always down for a good work out," Johnny replied, walking over to the bike he'd crashed into Hinata not five minutes earlier. "You two try and keep up, okay?"

For the first time in a long time, Naruto actually started to feel his eye twitching, "I'm gonna need a whole lotta booze to deal with this fucker…"

* * *

There are few worse feelings than standing right in front of your goal and knowing you can't so much as touch without there being hell to pay. Laura was just laying there, taking a nap in her cozy little corner of the X-Mansion, and all Mephisto could do was watch. He could just take this bitch right where he stood and insure Naruto's cooperation forever, but it would bring hell crashing down around him. Mutants tended to stick together after all…

Mephisto stared at the girl, his fist clenched in rage. He could feel the girls fighting spirit from where he stood, quite possibly the thing that had attracted Naruto to her in the first place, and all Mephisto wanted to do was wring it out of her! Yet, it would stay with her! That worthless spirit and… something else?

Something else. There was no doubt about it. Mephisto could feel another energy radiating from her, a different sort of one that he couldn't place at first. It came to him slowly what that feeling was, and that feeling came with a grin that crept onto his face with wicked glee. Perhaps this girl could be useful to him after all.

"Sleep, my child," Mephisto whispered, bringing his hand down to Laura's face to brush aside a piece of hair. She stirred, but did not wake. "You're going to need your strength. You carry with you something far more precious to me than you can imagine, and I doubt you even know it yet. Such a pretty bargaining chip you'll be. I can't wait to see the look on Naruto's face when he realizes…"

But he would wait. There was no other choice, but at least it would be a wait well worth it. Once everything came into play, Naruto would never disobey Mephisto ever again...


	11. Racing Hearts Pt 3

Well, it seems it's time for yet another chapter of Uzumaki Rider! We were glad to see so many people enjoyed the previous chapter (and a little surprised to see how quickly some of you guys managed to pick up what's going on with Laura). This chapter will be jumping right into some good old fashion action with M.O.D.O.K. and A.I.M. and we hope you all enjoy it! It's sort of the end of what we consider the 'Opening Arc,' after which we'll move more into the Mephisto and Dark Dimension storylines, along with some other things. Seeing how much you guys seem to be enjoying this story makes every word worth it. Now, without further ado, thank you all so much for reading and be sure to review!

Chapter Soundtrack - John Legend: Who Did That to You? (Django Unchained Soundtrack)

* * *

It seemed there was no end the number of the people the group of shinobi could manage to piss off. Admittedly though, an organization as large as A.I.M. just may have been their greatest feat yet.

"You've got three on your left," Kiba screamed to her brother as she swatted away yet another group of yellow-clad agents trying to subdue them. Both she and Akamaru had switched into their wolf forms, and so far hadn't had much trouble handling the various assholes. That didn't mean they wanted to get cocky though. "Make sure you swipe their guns!"

"I know the drill!" Akamaru screamed back. He'd managed to snatch all three of the automatic rifles pointed at him in one swing, something that sent the A.I.M. agents flying back words, and dropped them on the ground to stomped into nothing but a pile of scrap metal. "Tch, I almost thought this was gonna be hard at first!"

You'd think by now the boy would know better than to say something like that. A new voice, a strange, high pitched and mechanical one, entered the fray, "Don't get the cart ahead of the horse, my canine friend!"

Akamaru saw who the voice belonged to, the color draining from his face when he did, "What the fuck is that?"

"I am the great and mighty M.O.D.O.K., or Mechanized Organism Designed Only for Killing," The voice called back. "I'm the one you stole from!"

True though that may have been, it wasn't the headline as far as Akamaru was concerned. That honor belonged to M.O.D.O.K.'s appearance. It looked like a five-foot high floating head encased in a yellow mechanical shell with small, purple robot arms sticking out and some sort of red light in middle of its forehead. Oh, and there was a device on the bottom of the shell that let him float in the air like Onoki from the Hidden Rock village. Akamaru was fairly certain the image would be haunting his nightmares for weeks to come, "What the fuck? It looks like someone ripped off the top of a bobble head and tried to make it into a real boy who wanted to kill everyone! Fucking hell!"

"First, your pop culture references are getting better," Kiba complimented. They'd been trying to dive into the culture of their new home, and it seemed Akamaru was taking to it like a fish to water. "Second, if it freaks you out so much, then you've got a good reason to kick the shit out of it!"

Akamaru got down onto all fours and started sprinting towards the mysterious leader of A.I.M. "I'm gonna rip you apart and bury the pieces a hundred feet deep just so I don't have to look at you ever again."

Those sorts of threats meant nothing to a being like M.O.D.O.K. "You believe your brute strength is a match for my intellect? Prepare for a lesson in overconfidence!"

"Oh would you shut up?" Akamaru asked as he pounced at M.O.D.O.K. The red light on his foe's head began to grow brighter before a beam of pure energy shot from it and struck Akamaru dead in the chest. It burned through his fur and seared his flesh. "Aaaggghhh!"

Akamaru hit the ground like a ton of bricks before his attack could land. M.O.D.O.K. hovered over him with a victorious grin, "How did you like your lesson, fool? I'll gladly teach you another if it'd please you! HAHA!"

"When it comes to lessons, I prefer to the do the teaching myself." Came a familiar growl. Naruto had arrived, and he had two other Riders right along with him. The identity of their mysterious new friend would have to be revealed later. There was far too much destruction going on for that. "Well if isn't the literal head of A.I.M.? How've you been, M.O.D.O.K.? Still got an ego bigger than your noggin?"

"Well-well! I see you Riders no longer travel alone! No matter; I'll still introduce you to an incalculable amount of pain!"

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Some things never change I guess. Light em' up, guys!"

Now there was something they were all happy to do. Hinata opened up with a ball of purple flame that she hurled towards a group of half a dozen men, frying them instantly. Johnny was next, whipping his chain in the straight line in front of him the skewered several A.I.M. agents right through their chests. Naruto, deciding to focus on the root of the problem, leapt at M.O.D.O.K.

"Fool! You're little friend has already tried that," M.O.D.O.K. cackled, preparing the same beam he'd used on Akamaru for Naruto. "But I'll gladly teach you as well!"

As it did with Akamaru, the beam struck Naruto dead center before he landed face first on the ground. M.O.D.O.K. had expected as much. What he hadn't expect was the smile on Naruto's face, "You might wanna rethink calling me a fool, bud."

M.O.D.O.K. wouldn't have time to rethink it. Kiba saw her opening, and used Naruto's distraction to properly pounce on the mechanical menace. She tackled M.O.D.O.K. to the ground and proceeded to flip his face towards her so she could pound it into a bloody pulp. With each punch, Kiba cried, "NOBODY! HURTS! MY! BROTHER! BUT! ME!"

"Get off me," M.O.D.O.K. screamed. Each blow hurt him more than the next. "I'm to kill every last one of you and reanimate you just so you can feel it when I dissect you!"

Using a taser built into one of his hands, M.O.D.O.K. stunned Kiba and forced her to jump off from him. He then got reoriented and ejected two machine guns from the side of his mechanical shell, both pointed directly at Kiba. She had to admit, this wasn't the best situation, "Huh… guess we're about to test out the new armor."

"Or not," Akamaru called out, rushing towards M.O.D.O.K. "Naruto, Hinata, get ready!"

"Would you brutes just let me kill one of you at a time?" M.O.D.O.K. asked in dismay.

It would seem not. Akamaru grabbed M.O.D.O.K. by his helmet and threw him in between Hinata and Naruto. Their team working in perfect unison, the two Riders each let loose of a stream of flame at M.O.D.O.K., trapping in middle of a hellish blaze. By the time the duo decided he'd had enough and let him loose, he was covered in enough ash to fill a fireplace. Hinata giggled at the sight of his giant face covered in soot. "God, I wish I could take a picture of this!"

"There's about a hundred people around us with camera phones, I'm sure one'll end up online," Kiba remarked.

M.O.D.O.K. was having some trouble seeing the humour, "Do you think this is some kind of joke? I will send down the full force of A.I.M.'s wrath upon you!"

Didn't seem like much of threat to Naruto, "Look around, you buddy. How much A.I.M. do you think is left?"

"My man aren't so easily destroyed, you fools!" M.O.D.O.K. cried. He'd regret those words when he took a glance around and realized virtually all of his men were either dead or had run like the cowards they were. It was just him now. "Why do I bother to pay those useless dolts? This isn't over! I will return, and you'll see magic can never trump the power of science!"

Johnny, who'd been staying mostly silent during the whole encounter, decided now was a good time to cut in, "Who said we were letting you go anywhere? It's time to end your bullshit once and for all!"

No action hero line was going to stop M.O.D.O.K. from making his escape. The red light on his head turned purple and immadated a wave invisible to human eye. Anyone within a one block radius immediately found themselves with the most painful headache they'd ever experienced, and that included Naruto and his allies. His distraction now in effect, M.O.D.O.K. receded most of his body into his mechanical shell and activate his travel mode, turning himself into a more condensed pod that would have no trouble escaping the group. By the time his attack had worn off, M.O.D.O.K. was too far gone for any of them to catch.

"Dammit, the asshole got away," Kiba grumbled. She looked over at her two lovers, deciding to shift to her focus to figuring out who the hell the new Rider was. "You gonna tell us where you picked him up?"

Hinata took that one, "It's a long story, but he promised to buy me and Naruto drinks. I'm sure he won't mind adding you to that list so he can fill all of us in at once."

She didn't have to look behind her to know Johnny was rolling his eyes. "You bastards are lucky I'm rich…"

* * *

"So let me see if I got all this. Your father was a famous stuntman who had an inoperable form of cancer. In order to cure that in cancer, you offered your soul to Mephisto. Mephisto agreed, but then said crue made your father think he was invincible and he did an insanely dangerous stunt that got him killed. That didn't change the fact that your soul belonged to Mephisto though, so you worked with him for a long ass time before escaping and using your powers to fight off all of his bullshit. That about cover it?"

Johnny took in Naruto's explanation and replied with a shrug, "You forgot the part where I became a famous stuntman too before Mephisto called in my debt, but otherwise, that's right."

After another shot of whiskey, Naruto replied, "Okay, on the origin scale, I'd give you about a 7. Dead parent thing is kinda cliche, but the selling your soul to a demon lord and stunt man stuff gives you an edge."

"And what would you give yourself?"

"About the same. I mean mine's unique, but it's over the top and convoluted as all hell, so it loses some points there."

The group chuckled. Only Naruto could say something like that and not get punched directly in the face. Kiba took a shot of her own, tequila in her case, and addressed the table. "Okay, everybody knows everybody's origin. What we don't know is why Johnny's decided to go and throw yet another complication into our lives, so, if you'd be so kind sir."

"Don't call me sir, first of all. Second, the reason I came here was real simple; I needed to scope out Mephisto's new talent. Course at the time I didn't know you'd already stopped working for him, but still, it was worth the trip. Good to know Mephisto's traveling outside this dimension for his Riders now."

Johnny take a big gulp of his bottled beer, one of roughly a dozen he'd downed since they arrived, and leaned back in his chair. There was nothing else for him to say. Hinata, however, had plenty, "But why? I mean, I know we're powerful, but what've we got to offer that someone in this dimension doesn't?"

That question had bothering Naruto for years, "I asked Mephisto that once. He said it was just circumstance; no one in his realm fit the bill at that moment so he went looking somewhere else. I've got my own theories though."

"Such as?" Asked Akamaru.

"Well, you guys only came here because Mephisto was looking for someone close to me to watch my back, so it must've been something with me and not you. Now, what particular gift did I have that might do Mephisto a whole lot of good if he could get it over to this dimension?"

Hinata whispered the answer, "The Kyuubi…"

That name meant nothing to Johnny, "I don't suppose the Kyuubi is just some fancy kinda sushi at a japanese place."

"No, she's a demon with near endless amounts of power that was sealed inside of me when I was a child," Naruto answered. He poured himself another shot before he went any further into his explanation. "We don't have time to go into everything about it, but long story short, she was separated from me when I crossed over and Mephisto promised he'd find her for me. Only now I'm not so sure he was doing it for me."

"Mephisto never does anything for anybody but himself. Takes a special kinda person to see a kid whose dad just got cancer and think 'hey, there's an opportunity.'"

Everyone nodded in agreement. There was a long silence, a particular question hanging in the air that no one wanted to be the one to ask. Ever the blunt one, Kiba decided to break the silence, "Mephisto's a dick, we all agree on that… but what do we do about it? Hell, what do we do in general? I don't know any of us thought to plan ahead this far."

Johnny had a little something, "I've been working on ways to take down that old bastard for years. If you guys are up for it, I wouldn't mind having you a little help in the war against the forces of Hell."

"War against the forces of Hell? Somebody wanna go ahead and explain what I just walked into?"

And there was that voice again, the voice of the best damn private investigator in New York. Naruto turned to great her, "Come on, Jessica. If a sentence like that throws you off, you haven't been spending enough time around us."

Jessica stole one of bottles on the table, not so much as bothering to look at the label, and took a drink. Her own version of Russian Roulette, "Tequila? Not a bad choice, but not why I'm here. I've got a little something for guys."

"Didn't think you were much of a gift giver," Hinata said. Jessica pulled out a card, one with basic black and white lettering, and handed it to Hinata. She read it aloud, "'You are formally invited to the wedding of Luke Cage and Jessica Jones.' I didn't know you had a fiancee."

"She didn't the last time I talked to her," Naruto piped in. "Well-well, you're finally tying the knot. That's great, Jessica. Couldn't be happier for you and Luke. If you've got an invitation, I'm guessing you've got a date."

As much as she hated herself for it, Jessica couldn't hold back a smile, "A month from today. Me and Luke didn't have a whole lotta people we needed to invite and one of my clients is a priest who owed me a favor. Don't ask."

"Wasn't planning on it. What made you decide it was time to take the plunge?"

Jessica pointed directly at Hinata, "Her. Thanks to you your new friend here, Killgrave is gone for good. I thought, once he was gone, I'd be ready to put the ring on and that'd be it. I wasn't. If anything, I was more scared because I didn't have an excuse to fall back on anymore. Once I realized that, it hit me that I was always gonna be afraid and that I need to buck the fuck up and just go for it. All this self-reflection bullshit is thanks to you guys."

The group was more than happy to drink to that. Naruto raised his glass and said, "Glad to be of assistance. Best wishes to you, Luke, and your beautiful little girl."

"Thank you guys, for everything. All we need to do now is get all this crap with Cottonmouth sorted out and we might actually start to feel normal."

That named peeked Johnny's interest, even if he didn't know this girl, "Cottonmouth? That little pissant's still alive?"

Naruto glanced over at Johnny with narrowed eyes, "You know Cottonmouth?"

"My job was to collect the souls of the wicked. You think I never came across that asshole? He was never quite at the top of my list, but he got close a couple a' times. Figured somebody would've popped him by now. Luck seems to favor the worst kinda people sometimes."

"Preaching to the choir," Jessica told him. She gave the group one last wave before making her exit. "Hopefully I'll see you guys at the wedding. Stay safe."

The group nodded and told her to do the same. From there, they drained their respective bottles, told a few more stories, and decided it was time to head for the hotel and call it a night. Johnny ended up staying at that same hotel, if for no other reason than he hadn't thought ahead far enough to set up other accommodations. So, they went to bed without much of a concrete answer as to what came next for them. Nonetheless, they slept peacefully.

* * *

"We're not trying to ruffle your feathers, man. We're just saying this might not be the best time to be going after Luke, that's all."

Cottonmouth's night wasn't nearly as pleasant as one his rivals were having. He had two of his most irritating gang bangers standing right in front of him, trying to talk him out of something he knew had to be done. He sat his desk, his picture of Biggie-Smalls hanging on his blood-red walls, listening to the punks as they talked at him. He wasn't a fan of what they had to say. "Tyrese… did you just call me 'man.'"

Poor Tyrese stuttered out his response, "I-I… I meant sir, Cornell. Just eh, old habits. You f-feel me?"

"You'd best break those old habits before I start breaking them for you. Something else you'll stop doing is telling me how to run my empire. Cage's friends already got that British motherfucker to crawl out from under his rock so they could kill him. How long before they get to us? We end this shit tomorrow."

That may have been their only option, but Mikey, Cottonmouth's other grunt in the office, still didn't think that made it a good one, "You're talking about fucking with some pretty serious people, boss. I don't know if we've got the kinda fire power to handle these guys."

"Maybe yesterday we didn't, but tonight we got ourselves in a shipment of Judases, loaded and ready to go. Serious or not, these boys are in for one hell of a surprise."

"We got Judas ammo? Shit, boss! That's all you gotta say!"

Cottonmouth had a feeling that might change their tune. Judas was a street name for a black market bullet that was outlawed in just about every country thanks to how dangerous it was. There was almost nothing on Earth it couldn't tear through, which makes sense when you considered it was made from off-world Chitauri metal. They exploded not long after being fired, and whatever was on the receiving end could expect some serious damage. It was exactly what Cottonmouth needed. "That's what I thought. You boys round up whoever you need to and be at the garage first thing tomorrow morning. I'm ready to put this shit to rest."

* * *

Speaking of rest, after Naruto and his friends had the chance to rest up and get their heads on straight, their path forward actually became pretty clear. First, there was no real reason for them to leave New York at the moment, seeing as Akamaru had just started his new semester and the city was large enough for everyone to easy keep out of Mephisto reach without too much trouble. What would the rest of them do while Akamaru was off expanding his mind? They'd being doing the exact same thing, only with Johnny as their teacher giving them all sort of tips for dealing with Mephisto. Naruto also liked the idea of staying in New York because it meant he'd be close to Laura, someone that he still needed to have one hell of a conversation with. Granted, this wasn't MUCH of a plan, but it was still a plan, one they were discussing in the parking lot long after they'd checked out of their hotel.

"So are we just gonna stay in a hotel for however long we're here, or are we actually gonna look into getting an apartment?" Naruto asked while running his fingers through his bed-head. "The money Akamaru swiped might be able to get a place for awhile, but we'll need some kind of cash flow now that we aren't on Mephisto's bank roll."

Johnny had already thought of that, "I've got a place in the city you guys can stay at until you figure out some permanent arrangements. Would've stayed there last night if I wasn't so tired… and, you know, wasted. Five cases of beer might be a new record for me."

Sounded reasonable enough to Hinata. The living arrangements that was, not the beer. "Thanks, Johnny. We won't be there for long though. I think I've already thought of a way we can get by just fine."

"And that would be?" Kiba asked. Her wife leaned over and whispered the plan into her ear, making Kiba laugh immediately, "Yeah, that's one way to do it."

Everyone looked to the two women for an explanation, but all they did was keep on laughing. Akamaru decided to move the conversation forward, "Johnny, can you lead the way back to your place so we can get all settled in?"

Johnny nodded and headed straight for his motorcycle, "Sure thing. I drive pretty fast, but seeing as the Rider's are driving, you should be able to-"

Before the next words could leave Johnny's lips, something tore passed him, tearing a hole in the side of his coat and just missing him by hair. It instead hit his motorcycle, which exploded in a ball of flame large enough to send the entire group flying back. Trying to hear over the ringing in his ears, Naruto screamed, "What the fuck was that?"

"I don't know, but I can promise ya it wasn't some ordinary bullet," Kiba yelled back.

"Any of you motherfuckers read the Bible?" A new voice asked as it walked towards them, "Cause you're about to get introduced to Judas!"

That introduction would have to wait. Naruto had turned into his Rider form the second he hit the ground and he'd already thought up about a dozen different ways to fuck up the asshole who'd attacked them. The man didn't look like much when he finally came into view, just an ordinary gang banger with an oversized gun, but he was going to look like even less when Naruto was through with him. Before anyone could get another shot off, Naruto whipped his chain at his opponents ankles, first wrapping it around and then pulling it tight. Not only did this sever the gang banger's foot from the rest of his leg, it also cauterized the wound. Blood loss wasn't going to relieved him of his pain anytime soon.

The poor bastard hit the ground like a rock, screaming in pain. Naruto couldn't have given a damn. "You wanna keep screaming and referencing a book I doubt you've read, or do wanna tell us who sent you so we can put you out of your misery?"

"I ain't telling you shit!"

"Have it your way," Johnny said, also in Ghost Rider form. He kneeled down beside the gang banger, ready to 'talk' some sense into him. "I'm gonna warn you right now, I've got all kinds a' ways of making you see reason. I've been around the block once or twice. Me skillset-"

Once again, Johnny found himself cut off. Only this time the bullet heading for him didn't miss its mark. It hit dead center, right in his flaming chest. Johnny was throwback, hit the pavement where his motorcycle had once been, and promptly found the bullet lodge in his body wasn't done with him. This one exploded just as the previous one had, and even a Ghost Rider felt what it was capable of, "Motherfucker! Ah… fuck me, that hurt!"

Hinata called out to the him, "Johnny, are you alright!"

"I'll live… I think. Just figure out who shot me!"

That wouldn't be too hard. The group could see a man across the street holding a gun exactly like the one the first gang banger had used. Akamaru decided he was going to handle this guy himself. It wouldn't be fair for Naruto to have ALL the fun. Going into full wolf-mode, Akamaru leapt over the car they'd been hiding behind and made a beeline for the shooter.

As hard as the shooter had tried to remain calm, it all went right out the window when he saw the giant monster who looked ready to rip his head clean off. He got his gun in firing position and was almost ready when Akamaru struck. The massive teeth of the one time dog-nin tore through the gang banger's flesh and ripped the gun from his hand, tossing it onto sidewalk beside him. Akamaru growled at him, "That's what you get, asshole, for trying to mess with-" A loud ringing interrupted Akamaru's train of thought. It was coming from the discarded gun, "What the fuck is that?"

"It's gonna blow! We gotta get the fuck outta here, man!"

Akamaru didn't have much of a choice. They were probably gonna need this guy alive to figure what was going on, and that gun looked volatile. One of Akamaru's massive paws latched onto to gang banger as he leaped as far away from the ticking time bomb as he could get. The gun exploded into a cloud of God only knew what kind of flames and chemicals, and that wasn't even the worst of it. Shrapnel flew everywhere, some of which hit Akamaru in the back. Nothing too horrible, but it hurt like hell, "Shit! Something tells me those are gonna feel just a bad being pulled outta me!"

It was worth it though, because Akamaru landed beside his friends with the gang banger untouched. That meant they had two people alive who were about to get asked all kinds of questions. Hinata took a look at the scene, Akamaru bleeding, Johnny still on his back, and the two scared as hell minions, and let out a long sigh, "Well, this turned out about as well as I thought. I'll talk to our two guests while one of you pulls out shrapnel and the other sees how effective those bullets are against a Rider. Sound good?"

"As long you're gentle, yeah," Akamaru replied, setting the second gang banger down by the first, "And I'm talking about me, not these assholes."

Everyone nodded and headed off to handle their obligations, Kiba handling Akamaru and Naruto handling Johnny, while Hinata leaned down towards the two fools who'd attacked them. She was still in her Rider form, so they were both shaking as they looked into her flaming eyes. Hinata smiled at them. "You boys already know what I going to ask, right?"

"We ain't telling you shit about who sent us!"

"I don't need you to. Cottonmouth was bound to come after us soon or later. After everything we've done to his associates, that sick fuck Killgrave especially, he'd be stupid not to. Between that, the way you're dressed, and the fact that we're in his neighborhood, well… it doesn't take a genius."

No, it didn't. The gang banger with the missing foot looked at his cohort, then back to Hinata, "We can't tell you where he's at either. He'd kill us."

Hinata leaned in closer, still smiling, "Is this the part where I need to tell you there are things far worse than death? Or have you two seen enough movies to already know that?"

Neither man spoke. They just looked at Hinata, unsure if she was serious… she was.

"You guys wanna do this the hard way, huh? Alright, but I should warn you that what people say about torture, how it doesn't really work, is mostly true. I know this because where I'm from, we've perfected the artform. Around here, people torture somebody until they give them an answer. Now that's just stupid. All you'll get from that is a bunch of lies that'll stop the torture until everyone figures out the victim is full of shit. What WE did was torture people UNTIL we got what we wanted. If someone gave us a location, the torture didn't stop until we made sure the location was what it was supposed to be. Pretty smart, right? You could say I learned from the best. Want me to show you?"

Smart? Yeah, that was one word for it. The two gang bangers glanced at each other, then back at Hinata. The one who still had two feet asked, "If we tell you what you wanna know, ya gonna kill Cottonmouth?"

"He won't be able to come after you two, if that's what you're asking."

They spilled their guts quicker than a drunk girl at a frat party.

* * *

Laura had never thrown up first thing in the morning before. She'd never gotten a rough hang over or tried some sketchy gas station sushi. Yet, here she was, her head in a porcelain throne, vomiting up her midnight snack. It was an experience she didn't find herself particularly fond of either, "Yeah, that's the last time I'm gonna have banana cream pie for awhile."

" _A pity. Hank makes such wonderful pastries,"_ Came the telepathic voice of Professor X. He'd wheeled himself outside Laura's bathroom after he heard her puking from the hall. " _Speaking of Hank, perhaps you'd like to have him look you over. You could have something rather nasty."_

Hank, known to most as Beast, was the blue, furry medical expert of the X-Men. A nice, and ironically refined, person, but not someone Laura wanted to see at the moment. She replied to Xavier her mind, " _No, that's alright. I think it's just a bug. Thank you though."_

" _Of course. My apologies for disturbing you. Just for future reference, was this less awkward than coming in person?"_

" _Uh… yeah, I guess."_

Xavier nodded, not that Laura could see it, " _Splendid. Just let me or your father know if things get any worse."_

With the conversation seemingly over and her stomach feeling better, Laura stood up and wiped her mouth. She expect to hear Xavier's wheelchair squeak away, but there was nothing. "Professor, are you still out there?"

"Yes. Could come out for a moment, Laura?"

Uh-oh.

Laura didn't like it, but she left bathroom and went out to face Xavier. He looked like the wheels in his head had started turning, but that wasn't uncommon for him. "Forgive my bluntness, but… have you gained any weight recently? Noticed your stomach bloating out?"

"I don't weigh myself often enough to tell you."

"Mh-hm. And getting sick in the morning, is that common for you?"

"Not really."

"Then on to the most awkward question of the all. Have you had your 'time of the month' recently?"

That question nearly floored Laura. "Really starting to wonder if any of this is your business, Professor."

Xavier had his answer, "Do you see where I'm going with this, Laura?"

"I think so… and for the record, I'm only a couple days late!"

"Be that as it may, I felt the presence, Laura. It's young, but it's there."

"You're wrong. Since we're getting personal, let me put it to you like this. I only recently popped my cherry, and there's no way I'd be showing signs already. I might not know much, but I know it hasn't been long enough."

"You were with the young Uzumaki, correct? You're a mutant and he's a unique biology of his own. It's not unreasonable to assume this pregnancy won't follow the usual rules."

Pregnancy. Now someone had said the actual word, and it made Laura shiver.

Xavier could feel her fear. He smiled at her and said, "It'll be alright. Let's go see Jean and make sure I'm right."

"What if you are?"

"Then we'll handle it, you, me and your father, not to mention Uzumaki."

Naruto? Who-boy… hopefully things had slowed down for him enough to process all this.

* * *

They hadn't. Naruto, along with his entire group of friends, were standing outside Cottonmouth's club, waiting to find out if they were gonna be let in or if they'd have to force their way in the door. Naruto stood outside the now quiet building, wondering if the information Hinata had gotten was true. He was about to find out. After a few knocks the massive wooden doors in front him, it was answered by another of Cottonmouth's men, one who didn't exactly seem to be a conversationalist.

"Boss ain't here." The man said before promptly trying to slam the door in their face.

Naruto put his foot in the way before it could latch shut, "You might wanna reconsider your answer. Don't get me wrong; telling your men to spread the word that he's hiding out somewhere while he's still sitting in his fucking office isn't the worst idea, but someone was bound to piece it together eventually."

The Rider spoke so fast that Cottonmouth's man could barely keep up with him. Once he processed it all, he wasn't any more chatty, "Then he's busy. Don't bother with an appointment either, cause he ain't got time for your ass."

"Let's cut the shit already, huh?" Johnny asked, kicking in the door and sending the doorman flying. He hit the ground with a groan and found Johnny standing over him seconds later, the stuntman's boot pressed into his chest, "Now, me and my friends are going to have a word with your boss, and by have a word, I mean we're going to kill him. You and any of your friends who happen to have a brain in their heads can get the fuck out of here before that happens or you can stay here and die with him. Your call."

That seemed more funny than threatening, "Kill him? You motherfuckers won't be able to touch him! You've two dozen men to get through and a steel door six inches thick!"

Kiba pushed her way inside, kicking Cottonmouth's doorman in the head on the way in. It was enough to knock him out cold. "And here I was hoping this was gonna give me some kinda workout. Let's try to have fun, eh guys."

"Hold on, Kiba," Hinata commanded. "They could have those Judas bullets. The Riders seem able to survive it, but it'll still knock the wind out of us for a while. A few of them might do even more than that. We need to be smart about this."

"We could always blind em' first," Johnny suggested. "Our two furry friends should be able to whip a roar that'll get their ears ringing so bad they wouldn't hear a monster truck comin' too. They won't know what him em'."

Everyone looked at Johnny and asked the exact same question at the exact same time, "We can do that?"

Johnny wore a wicked smile on his face, "Oh, I've got so much to teach you kids. Follow my lead."

"But we still don't know what you're doing," Kiba cried, chasing after Johnny as he ran down the hallway, going full Rider as he did. This was getting ridiculous. "This old fuck is gonna get us killed!"

Everyone else went into their supernatural forms as well, hoping they could keep up with Johnny. He got through the entry and to the door to the main lobby easily enough. Johnny brought his foot up to the door, looking back at the group before he did. "Naruto and Hinata, I'll show you how to do this trick later; Kiba and Akamaru, all you need to do is roar from the deepest depths of your bellies. Given that your life depends on it, I think you've got the proper motivation. Time for some fun!"

"Wait, you crazy-" Naruto screamed, but it was all in vain. Johnny kicked the door in to find the 24 men Cottonmouth had in the club waiting for them.

When the oldest of the Rider's had claimed he could blind everyone in the room if need be, his allies had been skeptical to say the least. After what they were about to see, they'd never doubt him again.

Johnny sauntered into the room and jetted out his arms in a 'T' shape, the flames on his body instantly growing larger the instant he did. Light flooded the room, more than anyone present ever thought possible. Thanks to sharing the same Hell-born set of powers, the group was immune to Johnny's attack, but everyone else in the room went blind as a bat. It was time to make them deaf as well, "Hey, where's the fucking roar I was promised?"

"We didn't promise you shit," Kiba screamed back. "But here goes nothing!"

The Inuzuka siblings reached deep down into their stomachs just as they'd been told, took a deep breath, and tried to feel for something that would make this epic roar Johnny was so certain they could pull off possible. They both took hold of that same energy they felt when they transformed into their cannien selves and let it spread through their bodies and up into their throats. Like a tsunami, Kiba and Akamaru found themselves unable to hold back something Earth shattering.

"GGGGGRRRRRAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!"

This roar shook the entire room and broke just about every glass object in the place. Once again, Naruto and others were unaffected by this attack, but Cottonmouth's men were left with shattered eardrums. They were blind, deaf, and utterly reeling, each and every one of them. In other words, they were easy pickings for Naruto and the gang. Naruto couldn't pretend he didn't enjoy this, "I gotta give it to you, Johnny, that was pretty awesome. Care to take the first shot?"

"My pleasure," Johnny replied, a fireball in his hand and a his eyes locked on the bar in the center of the room with all the broken bottle of booze. "Now that's just an accident waiting to happen."

"You are one demented Rider, Johnny," said Hinata. "I love it. Let's have some fun!"

* * *

Up in his office, Cottonmouth was busy watching the whole thing through his now broken window. He'd gotten lucky in regards to the attack. He'd been away from the window when the light blinded everyone, and while it had filled the room, Cottonmouth had been able to cover his eyes before it hit. The noise Kiba and Akamaru had created was loud alright, but he'd just installed windows that'd take a damn rocket launcher to bust through. Sure, there was some cracks, but Cornell's hearing was left mostly intact. Both of those things could also be said for the man who'd been there to visit him, a mountain of the man in a burgundy suit who went by the name Diamondback, but whose real name was Willis Stryker.

His ears ringing and his vision fuzzy, Cottonmouth crawled his way up to the window to see what was happening. What he saw was five super-powered individuals tearing his men apart. One of the Ghost Riders (Uzumaki, not that Cottonmouth knew that), was slicing various appendages off and slicing in the half the guns of his men with a Hellfire soaked chain. Another, (Johnny), was throwing people into the flaming pit that had once been the Cottonmouth's bar. The last one, (Hinata), was taking the Judas weapons and damaging them enough to make them self-destructed, essentially turning them into grandes. A giant wolf-man looking creature was grabbing people in his jaws and tossing them aside like scraps of raw meat while another, more feminine looking wolf-creature slashed and smashed everyone in sight with her massive paws.

"It's a fucking bloodbath out there," Cottonmouth muttered, whipping his head over to Diamondback. "Time for us to leave."

"No shit, sherlock," Diamondback growled back in his deep, raspy voice. "I sold you those Judas bullets to make a point to Luke Cage, not get our asses killed. We make it outta here, you're the first one I'm putting one of em' in!"

"You can threaten me later. Need to keep our wits about us unless we wanna end up-"

Something crashed through the weakened window and interrupted Cottonmouth. So much for his six-inch steel doors. It was Naruto's chain, and it took all of half a second for it too wrap around crime lord's neck. There was no doubt, not even from Cottonmouth, that this was where he was going to die.

The chain yanked back and detached Cottonmouth's head from his body. It rolled clean off from his shoulders before the rest of his body hit the ground. Diamondback was almost impressed, "Hmph… should've said 'keep our heads', eh Cottonmouth?" Silence followed the joke. Apparently the scuffle was over, making it simple enough for Diamond back to walk to window and look down at the bloody, flaming mess that had been left behind. He saw the group of vigilantes responsible and called out to them, "That's some decent handywork. Must have left you guys awful tired. How about I leave and save you all any more trouble?"

"You got any plans to move against us or Luke Cage?" Naruto called back.

"You, no. Luke Cage… now that's a differen't story."

Wrong answer. No sooner than the words had left his mouth, Diamondback felt a sharp pain in his chest. He looked down to find a Judas bullet buried in his chest. Hinata, with the speed and accuracy of a gunslinger, had grabbed one of still intact bullets from the ground and flung it from her hand, once again protecting Jessica and her family. The heat and speed she created easily matched what a gun could put out, and that was bad news for Diamondback. A second later the bullet exploded, turning his chest into hamburger meat. Diamondback was dead, and the establishment was all but empty.

The group of five stood in that burning club, surrounded by the all carnage they'd created, and looked at one another. Did they feel guilty for that they'd done? Well, not exactly, but they didn't feel good about it either. It was just what had to be done. Was it going to be a hell of a mess to clean up? Maybe, but leaving messes what they did. No fighting that. Would there be some loved ones mourning these lost souls? Probably, but these mens death would lead to happy lives for countless others. It balanced out in the end, or at least everyone hoped it would.

Walking past rivers of blood and a mountain of dead bodies, the Riders and Wolves left, satisfied that they and those they cared about would have some peace. Anyone who tried to threaten that peace would be met with the same Hellfire and bloodshed they'd left behind here. You could count on that…

* * *

"It seems most of our New York operatives have been put to rest by the supernatural vigilantes," Said the women at the head of the Hand's table. The Five Fingers of the Hand didn't meet often, but it felt necessary for all of them to gather in the top floor the Midland Circle. It was only building in America where they knew they could talk 100% freely. "I am telling you this not because I think we need to retaliate, but because I didn't want you to think that me not doing anything about it was an act of ignorance."

"Then what do you call it?" A man with a thick Japanese accent asked. "Other than, perhaps, cowardice?"

Another woman, an older one of Chinese descent, answered that, "Picking your battles. They're killing the individuals we've hired, not interrogated them. It seems to me they want to be left alone, and we're finished in New York for the time being as it is. We let them win this battle with the knowledge that we can guarantee ourselves the war in only a matter of months."

One of the other men at the table, whose accent was thick African, muttered, "I don't like the image of us running from a fight, even if it is bullshit."

"Perhaps, but the image of us losing will be even worse," A South-American gentleman cut in, "I say waiting is the right call, which makes it at least 3 to 2. We're waiting."

The woman at the head of the table stood up, happy to see her allies had listened to reason, "Good, then we're done here. Everyone try and stay out of trouble until the time is right. We'll be back in New York soon enough, and when we are… the Riders, the traitors, and their friends _will pay_. Until then, ado."


	12. Welcome to the Neighborhood

Hello there, ladies and gentlemen! We're back once more with a special chapter of Uzumaki Rider! A quick warning, while this update is coming fairly quickly, don't expect that to be a reoccuring theme. As much as we'd love that, it seems life is always finding new ways to soak up our time. In this case, it's a new job for one of us that's really important for affording college. We'll do our best to keep getting quality chapters out to you as soon as we can.

So with everyone back together and learning a few things from Johnny, that brings an end to the first "arc" of the story. Sure there are a few hanging plot threads, but trust us when we say that those are going to be used to either bring people back into the story or to introduce future events. In any case we thought this would be a good opportunity to showcase how Mephisto's plan to gain power not only affects Naruto's world, but also a host of other dimensions. For that, we decided to introduce a special guest into the story. Please note that this character isn't true to their cannon self, we're "cheating" a little by using the character a different, unintroduced dimension that's practically the same as their cannon counterpart save for a few small changes, like the old "What If?" comics use to do. This chapter, and other 'interlude' chapter we may or may not do in the future, will be a bit shorter than the usual ones. Please be sure to let us know if you liked this special chapter, or if it was a mistake to try, but with that onto the story! Enjoy everyone!

Chapter Soundtrack – C'mon : Panic! At The Disco & Fun

* * *

After a nice day of… well, fiery destruction and utter chaos, Naruto and Hinata decided to continue their date from where they were so rudely interrupted. Akamaru drafted Kiba into working on some secret project, so there was no one to disturb them. On the walk back to the park, Naruto mumbled to himself, "I still can't believe this."

"Something on you mind, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked, unknowingly falling back to using the suffix.

"Just all this shit with Mephisto." Naruto admitted. "Don't get me wrong, I pegged the guy as the type who wanted to use me, but he hadn't made any obvious moves while I was still working for him," The rider then admitted. "For a bit, it felt like someone recognized my full potential. Sure, my boss was a jerk, but most are."

Pulling her lover into a hug, Hinata told her fellow rider, "You have two beautiful ladies who believe in your potential, and probably plenty of other people, both here and back in the Hidden Leaf. Just forget all about that fucker. If you have to think about him, think about how good it'll feel to punch his ugly mug if he ever dares to show up again." Naruto smiled at that, he knew it wasn't often that Hinata would curse, only when she was very passionate about something. He moved to kiss her, only for Hinata to move her head back. Her attention was focused elsewhere, "Hey, what were the colors of that one hero, Kid Arachnid?"

"Spider-Man," Naruto lightly corrected before answering, "He usually wears a red and blue outfit, but he changes it up every so often."

"Weird," Hinata commented, "Only got a glimpse of them but the costume looked like it was black with a splash of white."

"Might be Venom," Naruto neutrally stated while shrugging his shoulders, "Even if it was I wouldn't think too much about it. Spidey tends to take care of his villains pretty quickly. I haven't had to tangle with the likes of Doc Ock or the Green Goblin for a long time."

Hinata wasn't going to let that one slide, "Doc Ock and Green Goblin? Really? These people give some ridiculous names to their criminals…"

"Those are nothing. There's a guy out there who literally goes by the name Mr. Sinister."

All that got out of Hinata was a raise eyebrow, "You're full of it. Nobody would be that on the nose."

Naruto his arm across Hinata's shoulders and steered her along the sidewalk as he said, "You have so much to learn, my beautiful friend. Come on, there's a few places I'd like to show you."

* * *

She just wanted to get to the museum. It seemed silly, but she'd lived in New York all her life, and yet had never gone to the American Museum of Natural History. An extra credit assignment on one of the exhibits for her hardest classes was the perfect excuse to finally indulge herself. Sure, Gwen could have either taken the subway or walked, but web swinging was so much faster. But anytime she put her damn web-shooters on, trouble was bound to find her. In this case trouble turned out to be a weird purple spiral appearing in the sky that the teen had no chance of avoiding….

It felt like nothing when she first hit it. No worse than passing through a bank of fog really. The strange anomaly didn't seem to harm the teen, and it vanished the second she was on the other side of it. So everything was fine, right? Nope.

Spider-Women instantly ran into more trouble, in this case a traffic jam… caused by a man with four metal tentacle-like things sticking out of his back.

Leaping into action, Spider-Woman shot a web from each hand, hitting the man's back. Pulling with all her might, the teen launched herself at the rampaging starnger, both of her feet hitting just below the tentacles. She fired off one of her classic quips, "I know traffic is bad, but there's no need for road rage."

The man spun around as he began to scream, "Curse you Spider…" He lost his voice when he saw his adversary was far from who he'd expected. While the man was speechless, the bowl-cut and unique sunglasses clued Spider-Woman in to his identity.

"Hey, I recognize you!" Gwen cried, shocking the man into action. As a tentacle speed towards her, the hero easily dodged as she continued, "You're Otto something, one of Moon's henchmen."

"Doctor Octopus works for no one!" The villain cried as used one his extra appendages to pick up a car and toss it at Spider-Woman. She easily caught the object.

Setting the car down, Spider-Woman tried to piece this whole incident together. "Wow breaking out and going solo? I commend you for that, but couldn't you pick a better name? I mean you don't even have eight arms with your little contraption."

"I don't have the time to deal with another infernal arachnid! And the legs make eight!" The man cried as he used his lower two tentacles to launch himself at his foe, the top of his other two beginning to spin like saw blades. While the attack was fast, Spider-Woman was used to opponents far quicker than him. She easily leaped over the spinning blades. As she pasted by the man, she lashed out with a quick kick to his temple, Doctor Octopus going limp as he body hit the pavement.

"Oops," Spider-Woman spoke to herself as she stepped forward to ensure the villain wasn't playing possum. When the man didn't move, she finished by saying, "Wow, I did not mean to hit him that hard. Oh well." She then decided to be safe than sorry and took each of the metal tentacles and tied them into a knot. Gwen took a step back to admire her work, "Somehow I get the sense that this should have been harder, I mean the Bodega Bandit usually puts up a better fight than that! Oh well, like dad always said, no point in looking a gift horse in the mouth."

Yet one thought stuck with the teen as she shot out a web to swing away, 'What did he mean by another arachnid?'

* * *

Swinging through New York was second nature at this point, despite not seeing as much action as he had in his younger years. Still, Spider-Man was thankful that for once the Parker luck had held out for the past few years. With a lovely wife at home and a brood of kids to look after, Peter was thankful both for his high paying job at his alma mater of ESU and that Miles could handle most of the lower level crimes in the city. But that didn't stop him from suiting up when one of the bigger villains decided to go on a rampage. So when he heard that one of his original nemeses, Doctor Octopus, was stirring up something nasty, Dr. Parker excused his photography class early, to the cheers of his students, to take on the aging villain.

Imagine his surprise when found the man had already been defeated, lying knocked out on the street below, his metal tentacles tied into a neat little bow. Seeing that the city's finest had no difficulty loading the defeated man into a police van, Spidey was about to swing back to his job, only to notice a small detail in the scene. On the building across from the man was a web rope, too large to come from an ordinary spider and certainly not one of his own.

Having a pretty decent idea what was going on, Spider-Man grumbled to himself, "Not this again." Nonetheless, he went to investigate. Much like Doc Oct, he was not expecting to find a costumed teenage girl on the building's roof. The young lady wore a costume that was mostly black from her chest downwards, save for her feet which were a light blue; her shoulders, mask, and arms were mostly white while a red pattern on her biceps gave the appearance of webs and a red outline on her mask made from some intimidating eyes. Still, the teen didn't look intimidating as she held a cellphone up, complaining aloud, "Come on, why won't this thing work?"

Deciding to make his presence known, Spider-Man called out, "Who knows these days? Reception has been spotty on this block for years."

Startled, the teen quickly put her phone away and raised up her fists, though even at a distance Spider-Man could tell that the girl didn't know how to properly throw a punch. Still, not wanting to be an aggressor, he calmly stepped out onto the roof and held up his hands as he said, "Easy, I get that you just want to help, and I thank you for taking care of Doc Ock, but trust me when I say you're going to get in over your head."

"Is that a threat?" The teen asked. She didn't wait for a response before charging at Spider-Man. Spidey, for his part, just calmly watched as the teen came straight at him and swing. He didn't need his spider-sense to see where the blows were coming from. For the next few minutes the hero dodged, ducked, and redirected hit after hit after kick. The girl tried to mix it up a little by including some webbing, only for the more experienced hero to intercept the webline with his own and pull her to the ground.

As the skirmish continued, Spider-Man really wondered how this teen had taken down Otto so easily. Perhaps the doctor was slipping in his old age, or maybe he foolish enough to underestimate a woman. Those thoughts ended when he felt his phone's alarm go off, signalling that his next class began in thirty minutes. With newfound incentive to end the fight, Spidey did just that. Webbing one of the girl's hands, Peter gave a mighty pull, simultaneously throwing the teen off balance and pulling her closer to the wall-crawler. Once she was within range, the older hero launched a light kick into the teen's midsection, knocking the wind out of her.

The teen collapsed onto her knees, trying regain her breath, while Spider-Man began to lecture. "Listen, it's clear that you want to do the right thing, but it's just as obvious you don't know what you're doing." He then tapped her head to ensure he had her attention as he said, "So, clone or not, give up web-slinging until you've had some training, okay?"

Finally getting her breath back, Spider-Woman fire back, "How about no." Before the older hero could react, the teen shot a glob at him, covering the veteran's eyes. Even with the benefit of super strength, it took Spidey several moments before he ripped the webbing off of his mask, by which time the teen was just a figure retreating towards a different section of the city. Tempted as he was to chase after the mystery teen, Spider-Man knew he didn't have the time. Besides, that area of the city was claimed by a different hero. As he began to web-sling back to ESU, Spidey pulled out his cellphone, his call going straight to voicemail, "Hey DD, just letting you know there might be a bit of a situation heading towards Hell's Kitchen..."

* * *

Pulling up her pants, Gwen once more asked herself why she made her super-suit out of one piece of clothing. She had to go through a complete wardrobe change whenever she wanted to change between Gwen Stacy and Spider-Women, no matter where she might be. Sure, her spider-sense meant she didn't have to worry about any peeping toms, but the few times she'd lost her backpack lead to a challenge of getting back into the house without waking anyone. Thankfully this wasn't one of those times, and soon the green shirt clad blond climbed down the fire escape and disappeared into the crowd on the street. The fact she currently had her face buried in her phone certainly helped to sell the look.

Her phone had actually been giving her a bit of frustration. Although not the most high end model, it worked for her purposes. It had certainly worked this morning, but now wouldn't register as having a signal. She needed her map app, seeing as during her escape from Mr. Red-and-Blue Gwen hadn't paid attention as to where the hell she was going.

Smacking her phone a few times, she mumbled to herself, "Come on, work you stupid piece a' crap!" Gwen's eyes were locked on the screen, making it inevitable that she would run into someone sooner or later. When it finally happened, Gwen's head shot and she blurted out, "Sorry about…" The rest of the sentence stopped as she looked at the man who she'd ran into. While most New Yorkers would assume the man was harmless due to his red-tinted glasses and cane, Gwen knew better. Gwen knew that this man was the successor to the Kingpin of crime, that he was the leader of the western branch of the Hand, that he was the one who had been making her life difficult for the past year and a half. In short, she knew exactly the kind of man Matthew Murdock was.

As such she didn't hesitate to grab the cane out of the man's hands and throw it behind her. It might look like a dick move to everyone around her, but Gwen felt no shame as she saw one of the most powerful men of New York's underworld weakly fumble to find something to steady himself. As much as she would have enjoyed the sight, Gwen knew better than to stick around too long. As such she disappeared into the crowd once more while Matt leaned against the side of a building.

After a helpful samaritan retrieved his cane for him, Matt began walking in the opposite direction the teen went. Pulling out his phone, he used the voice command to make a call. As he figured, Spider-Man was teaching a class, Matt instead called the next best person to share his discovery with. "Hey, Mary Jane? When you get a chance, tell your husband it's not a clone this time. I've never had someone react so hostile to me before I even spoke. Just a hunch, but I think we finally found the universe where I crossed over to the other side." After sharing a quick laugh, the lawyer hung up and proceeded back to his office. There were some other people he had to talk to.

* * *

After her run in with the Kingpin, Gwen desperately needed to unwind. Usually this was accomplished by web-swinging around and just getting lost in thought, but right now she really needed to talk to someone, and she knew just who.

The gate squeaked as it always did, although the grass was starting to grow a bit taller than it should be. It was a bit of a walk to get to where she wanted to be, but once she got there she smiled as she said, "Hey dad."

In front of the girl was a granite tombstone, the name George Stacy carved into it. Below the name were the words, "Captain and loving father." As she brushed a few stray leaves off the grave marker, Gwen couldn't help but remember how this had happened.

Her mother passed away when she was fairly young, Gwen never dared to ask exactly what it was for her dad's sake, her father had done his best to juggle being a single father and a Captain in the NYPD. He had been a damn good cop, solving countless cases. His crowning achievement would have been the bust of the original Kingpin, Wilson Fisk. However, the attempt to arrest the man lead to a shootout that killed several police officers, George Stacy being among the dead. Gwen remembered how it felt like the world stopped spinning when Officer DeWolff told her what happened. Soon after the Watsons took her in, something she'd always be grateful for.

Shaking her head from thoughts of the past, Gwen continued speaking, "Boy, this was a crazy day. I was trying to get some extra credit done when I find one of Moon's scientist that decided to go AWAL, somehow got himself some metal arms too. Needless to say, I cleaned his clock." Gwen could help but smile as recalled the short fight, and how proud her father would've been of her victory. That grin fell as she continued, "Then I run into this guy that has my powers, although he was a lot more experienced with them. Yeah, not my greatest moment, but I managed to web his eyes for long enough to get away. I wonder if he's another old hero? I mean I know Wasp is retired, and everyone knows about Sam, but who else could be lurking in the shadows? And now I'm rambling again." Laughing at herself for a moment, the teen quickly grew serious as she moved into the big finish, "I had another run in with 'Murder-dock'. That guy always gives me the creeps. I managed to toss his cane away before he did anything, he has to keep his 'helpless' blind man act up while out on the street, so I was able to get away without much trouble." Feeling lighter after retelling the events of the day, Gwen kissed two of her fingers before pressing them against the tombstone as she said, "Love ya dad, tell mom I say hi. I'm going to go talk to Peter now."

With that, the teen began walking towards another grave. Peter Parker had been one of Gwen's greatest friends, perhaps something more if time had allowed. Unfortunately fate had other plans. Shortly after Gwen was bitten and gained her powers, the bullying had become too much for Peter to handle. Always the genius, the boy had engineered a formula that had transformed the scrawny kid into a hulking, lizard-like monster at the expense of his intelligence. Unfortunately, Gwen didn't know this when she fought against her friend when, in his primal state, Peter attacked his bullies. Gwen won the fight, but Peter died soon after, whether because Spider-Woman took the fight too far or if Peter's formula was inherently fatal was something that would always haunt her.

Knowing the way to her friend's grave, Gwen called out, "Hi Peter…" but the rest of the sentence was lost to the wind as Gwen collapsed onto the ground. Instead of seeing her friend's name, the headstone instead read "Gwen Stacy."

The teen wasn't sure how long she sat, staring at her grave before she felt a hand on her shoulder. Still, she didn't react until she heard a familiar voice ask, "It's hard seeing your own grave, isn't it? It's happened to me a few times." Turning, Gwen instantly recognized the green eyes and red hair of Mary Jane Watson, even if the woman had aged a few decades.

Still, that didn't stop the teen from crying out, "MJ!" as she launched herself into the woman, pulling her down for a tight hug.

For her part, the former model took the hug in stride as she returned it, commenting, "Well I guess this means I either retained my youthful looks like Tiger is always saying, or I ended up as an old spinster in your universe. I think I'll believe the former."

"I don't understand any of this." Gwen confessed, a few tears still escaping her eyes. "If I'm dead, why am I here? And what do you mean by universe?"

Pulling away slightly, Mary Jane began, "Look, I promise I'll explain everything, but someplace more private. Now I assume you don't have any place to stay?" When Gwen shook her head no, the older woman stated, "Then you're staying with us until we sort this thing out."

From there it was a silent walk to Mary Jane's car. The silence continued until a question popped into Gwen's head. "What did you mean by seeing your grave before?"

Mary Jane contemplated her answer before saying, "I've had the unfortunate experience of being pushed into other dimensions before, whether by science or magic it leads to the same result. I've seen a few worlds were me and Tiger don't get together, some where I get bit by the spider instead of Peter. There was even one where I was replaced by a clone with powers over water." The woman then shrugged as she finished by saying, "After a while it gets confusing. Richards could explain it better than I could."

That got a laugh out of Gwen as she asked, "What would a sitcom star know about inter-dimensional travel?"

This caused Mary Jane to smirk as she replied, "You'd be surprised how different people can be between dimensions. Reed Richards tends to be one of the smartest minds in any universe you visit."

The comment about people being different reminded Gwen of an encounter she had earlier today, "Say, Matthew Murdock wouldn't happen to be the Kingpin in this dimension as well, would he?"

Mary Jane's snort of laughter was all the answer Gwen needed. While the teen felt mortified, Mary Jane's next comment didn't help matters, "Actually, he's the exact opposite of that."

Despite Gwen's groan, Mary Jane couldn't help but smirk at the teen's reaction.

* * *

After the discovery of her blunder, Gwen spent the rest of the car ride in silence, until she began to recognize her surroundings. "Hey, I think I know this place."

"You should," Mary Jane stated as she continued driving, "Aunt May left us her house in her will."

Shocked, the teen couldn't help but ask, "May Parker is dead?"

"Unfortunately," Mary Jane confirmed, "she had a heart attack nearly a decade ago. She was in the hospital for a while but just wasn't getting better. That damned Mephisto actually offered to cure her in exchange for my and Tiger's marriage." The woman paused to wipe a stray tear away before continuing, "I won't say we weren't tempted by the offer… that woman was a fixture in so many people's lives. She somehow found out about the deal and told us not to take it, looking out for her nephew until the end."

By now Mary Jane had parked the car at the Parker house and began walking towards the door, Gwen following after. The teen was about to ask more about the late May Parker, only for the front door to open before either of the woman made it to the porch. Even with the thought of her home not being a one-to-one translation to this new world, Gwen still couldn't place the new comer. The woman held a small, brown haired, blue eyed baby boy against her hip, probably the source of several mystery stains on the blouse that more than likely cost more than the house. The other distinguishing feature of the new woman was her hair, which seemed to be a natural white but currently had several colors of paint mixed in. Even if Gwen didn't recognize this woman, she recognized the hostile glare present on her face.

Mary Jane ignored the glare as she stepped forward, scooping the baby boy out of the woman's arms, her voice took a higher pitch as she asked, "Hello baby Ben, did you behave for Aunt Felicia?" Her voice then returned to normal when she asked the woman, "They weren't too much trouble were they?"

"Nothing I couldn't handle." Felicia humbly bragged before continuing, "Still, it's maddening when your youngest gives me an easier time than your twins. If having me watch your spiderlings is revenge for me joking about a threeway with your hubby, then I have two things to say." She took a breath, pausing for dramatic effect, "First, kudos for having such an evil mind. Second, I think I've more than earned that particularly reward after today."

Mary Jane just laughed, both at the accusation and demand, before playfully countering, "We'll see Felicia. It depends on how long you don't steal anything and if Tiger remembers to plan something for our anniversary." This just caused the other woman to huff, reach back inside to grab her coat, and then walk away. Mary Jane then turned to Gwen and said, "Well come on in."

Stepping into the Parker house was seral to Gwen. Barring a few extra photos, the house was almost identical to her home world's. What certainly wasn't in her version of the Parker house was the pair of identical twelve-year-old girls, both blue eyed while one had their brown hair cut short while the other wore hers long, sitting on the couch, giggling as they watched a video. Still with her son balanced on her hip, Mary Jane cleared her throat before asking, "May," the short haired girl looked up, "April," the other girl mirrored her sister, "does anyone want to explain what happened to your Aunt Felicia's hair?"

"She did it!" Both girls exclaimed, pointing to the other. Upon seeing her twin rat her out, both girls were about to come to blows before their mother once more cleared her throat.

"What have I said about fighting? To your room now, we'll talk about this more when your dad gets home. And leave your phones down here." Reluctantly the preteens complied, although Gwen heard them quietly argue about whose fault it was. Mary Jane just shook her head, used to dealing with her daughters, although her son seemed to enjoy the antics as evident by his laugh. Once the twins were upstairs, the mother talked to herself, "Alright, that's three accounted for, now to hunt down the last one."

"Up here mom." Really, at this point Gwen should have expected to find a mini-MJ with her braided pigtails calmly sitting on the ceiling while reading a book that looked much too thick for any eight year old to read.

Mary Jane seemed to take this as a common occurrence as she asked, "Annie Parker, what have we told you about reading on the ceiling?"

"Aunt Felicia said it was okay, it makes the blood rush to my head so I can read faster." The girl replied, but nonetheless back flipped onto the floor.

Ruffling her daughter's hair, Mary Jane told the girl, "I'll let you get away with it just this once, now go get started on your homework." With that the girl rushed off upstairs to her own room as the woman turned to Gwen and asked, "So am I right in assuming you've been in the house before?" When Gwen nodded, Mary Jane continued, "Alright, well everything is mostly the same. Me and Tiger took the master bedroom, the twins have Peter's old bedroom, the first guest bedroom is Annie's, and the last one is a nursery for Ben."

"So then where am I sleeping?" Gwen asked.

"I'll show you in just a second, but first this." The pair stopped outside a hall closet, that Mary Jane opened, revealing nothing spectacular until the woman moved a false wall, showing Gwen a costume similar to the one the man she fought with earlier wore. "So here's where we keep the uniforms and web-shooters." Taking the hint, Gwen dug her super suit out of her backpack. As she put her suit on an available hook, Gwen noticed something interesting. As she reached towards the object, the teen asked, "Hey, what's with the…"

Only to be cut off by Mary Jane, "Don't touch the sword!" Instantly Gwen recoiled from the weapon, as if burned. Apologizing, the red head explained, "Sorry, the sword's possessed by the spirit of one of my ancestors, I forget whether she's from this timeline or a different one. Long story short, the first few times I grabbed the sword I blacked out and she possessed me. Now it's more like an out of body experience, although she lets me take the lead sometimes. Still, we save that thing for 'mystical, end of the world events', or for date night if it's been a rough month."

Nodding at the explanation, and hoping that last bit had been a joke, Gwen returned the false wall before closing the closet. Nodding at the teen, Mary Jane motioned to follow her towards a different door. "Surprisingly, this isn't the first time something like this has happened. Me and Peter have learned to be prepared."

Gwen would have commented about that, but instead decided to only follow Mary Jane down the stairs to the basement, surprisingly vastly different than what she was used to. It was still unfinished, had a few shelves for storage and a washer and dryer in the corner. But now the space was dominated by the large rug, a bed against the wall while on the opposite side a tv rested on a large dresser, a freestanding clothes rack with a few wooden hangers not too far away. While Gwen was taking everything in, Mary Jane continued speaking, "It's not much, and you have to share a little, but it's yours as long as you need it. Let us know if there's anything we can do to make it feel a bit more like home."

Gwen nodded at this as her eyes spied an area of the room with just enough space for something she'd been missing. "Hey Mary Jane, how do you and your husband feel about a drum set?"

* * *

Naruto and Hinata had definitely enjoyed their time alone time, something they had a feeling they wouldn't be getting much more of in the coming weeks. As the sky grew dark, the pair began debating whether they should go back to the hotel room everyone was sharing, or try to find a place for themselves and take full advantage of the situation. The conversation stopped when Hinata got a text from Kiba saying to meet at some mystery address. Apparently there was some big surprise waiting for them.

One short drive later, Naruto and Hinata found themselves in a pretty phenomenal neighborhood, one of the best in New York in fact. The address lead them to a rather large townhouse that, according to Akamaru, now belonged to them. It was white, with a wood exterior and modern, fully furnished interior. After the situation was explained to him, I.E. that Akamaru had bought the place with his stolen cash, Naruto couldn't help but ask the dog-turned-boy, "Haven't you learned your lesson about spending A.I.M's money?"

"Yes I have." Akamaru quickly stated as he and Naruto moved a couch into position. The furniture may have been all there, but it wasn't in place just yet. "I split the money up, shuffled it through a few different accounts, and haven't taken any more." Plopping down on the couch, the teen explained further, "Plus this is perfect. This place is paid in full so there's no mortgage to lead back to us, it's got a room for me, one for all three of you, and a third if Naruto gets put in the dog house."

"For once, little bro had a good idea." Kiba added as she pushed a coffee table into position before grabbing the laptop. "It'll take a few days for cable to show up, but we have a few movies downloaded off of Netflix to tide us over until then."

As Hinata finished with the popcorn maker, she called over, "I'm going to have to agree with Kiba on this one. It'll be nice having a home."

As everyone settled in for the night, Akamaru's phone began to vibrat. Quickly checking the message, the boy leapt off the couch, barely containing his excitement as he informed everyone else, "Doreen just offered to show me a few spots in the city! She said she was going to give me a tour of Coney Island." He paused at the door before quickly telling the group, "Hey I bought the place, so common house rules apply. That means keep the sex to the bedrooms and out of the common areas." The teen didn't give anyone the chance to reply as he sped out the door.

Once left alone, Naruto questioned his lovers, "So are we going to follow that, or?"

"As much as I'd like to annoy my little bro," Kiba began, "I think I'll take it easy on him for the time being. His sense of smell is better than mine, and since he actually is trying for a relationship he's going to be frustrated for awhile. We'll still find ways to remind him whose in charge though, don't you worry."

Rolling her eyes, Hinata asked, "Why does it always have to be about sex with you two? Can't we just watch the movie and cuddle?"

To that, Naruto eagerly complied, wrapping his arms around his two lovers and pulling them close. He'd dealt with a lot of shit for a long time, he'd been forced to keep moving around from place to place cleaning up Mephestio's mess. Now, he was free of the bastard and reunited with some of his closest friends. Although there were a few people he dearly missed from the Hidden Leaf, this was certainly beginning to feel a lot like home.

* * *

Laura wasn't a fan of being stuck in another long drive session. While in this case it was certainly necessary, that didn't make it any more enjoyable. Logan was the one driving her, in a pickup truck since he thought it'd be safer given the circumstances. Circumstances, for the record, that Laura still didn't fully buy into, "How do you even know the old man's right? It's not like I took a test or anything."

"The Professor's never wrong about stuff like this. He even had Jean double check, and she's got powers that can one-up his. There's no way around all this."

"I just don't wanna scare Naruto if this turns out to be nothing."

"No, you want it to actually be nothing so your whole life isn't thrown into a frenzy. I'm not a big fan of this either, Laura. I find out that I've got another kid outta the blue and before I've even got the chance to process that, I find out I'm gonna be grandfather on top of it. Jesus… you sure it's Uzumaki's kid?"

Not the gentlest way to ask your daughter about her pregnancy, but from Logan, it could've been worse. Laura decided the truth would be her best move here, "I've only been with one other guy since I got to the mansion, and we used protection. We were stupid and didn't use protection the first time I was with Naruto, and he's the only one who lines up with how far along Jean guessed I was. It's his."

"Alright… so you're gonna tell him, fair enough. At the end of the day though, the choice about what comes outta all this is comes down to you. You should let Uzumaki give his input and take that into consideration, but me and him can't do anything to really stop you once you've made up your mind. Have you thought about your options?"

"I know I'm gonna have the baby. If my powers get passed down to it, which they probably will, trying not to have could come with a whole lot of complications that'll just hurt both of us in the end. After that though… I don't know."

Logan looked at his daughter and all the conflicted on her face. He'd never been good with these sorts of things, but this was his daughter here. No matter what, he had to try, "Well, whatever decision you make, you've got a whole mansion full of people just waiting to help you. It'll be okay. And if you need, I could… I mean it's not really my strong suit, but… I'm sure I could try and… what I'm getting at is-"

"Dad?"

"Yeah?" Logan asked, not even blinking at the title.

Laura set her hand on her father's and smiled at him, ending his ramble, "Thanks."

At first Logan didn't know what to say. He kept it simple, "My pleasure."

There was a lot of silence after that, but somehow, it didn't seem to awkward…


	13. Under the Surface Pt 1

Another day, another chapter of Uzumaki Rider! Well, it's been a little more than a day actually, but still, we're glad to have you guys here. This chapter will continue all sorts of fun stuff with Mephisto and the Dark Dimension and show Naruto and crew adjusting to their new home while they find out what sort of things lie in store for them. Lots of cool things for us to play with, especially considering all the craziness that went down last chapter. Hopefully you guys will enjoy what we've got to offer. Thank you all so much for reading and please review.

Chapter Soundtrack - Fall Out Boy: Hold Me Tight or Don't

* * *

It was nice getting a good night's sleep under a roof they could call their own for once. Naruto in particular was used to hotel bed after hotel bed, waking up next to someone new almost every night. That morning, thought, he woke up in his own bed, next to two beautiful women he knew inside and out, and without the aid of Mephisto fucking card. The whole thing left him more at peace than he'd felt in a long time.

Rather than wake either of the girl's up, Naruto slipped out of bed as quietly as he could and snuck into the kitchen to make everyone breakfast. It wasn't much, just some eggs, bacon, and toast, but it was the least he could do to show them how grateful he was to be in this situation. What finally woke everyone, including Akamaru, up was the smell of a freshly brewed pot of coffee. The second the smell of that glorious drink struck their noses, all them shot up and headed straight for the kitchen. Needless to say, they appreciated the massive piles of food waiting for them when they got there.

"Damn, Uzumaki. Now this is how you wake a girl up," Kiba said with a girl, popping herself down at their glass table where a fully loaded plate and mug of coffee awaited her. "Hinata, can you believe this shit?"

"From Naruto, I'd expect nothing less. We'll have to _thank_ him properly later."

Akamaru sat down as well, rolling his eyes while he did. "I swear, you guys are hornier than I remember getting when it was mating season."

Out of all the questions Naruto could've thought to ask when he sat down, the first one that came to mind was, "What's that like, by the way? You being able to remember stuff from when you were a dog, not the mating season thing."

"The same as any other memories, except I was crotch level with everybody and didn't see as many colors," Akamaru replied. The group began to eat as he continued listing off his complaints. "And you guys aren't listening to me. This Rider shit gave you guys problems before, but ever since you've started hanging around each other all the time, you can't keep your hands to yourselves! All the air-freshner in the world couldn't drown out smell you guys were putting off last night!"

"Damn, you smelled that, eh?" Kiba asked, cringing to herself. "We tried to hide it, but-"

Explanations weren't what Akamaru was interested in. "But nothing! You guys are outta control! I swear, it's like you're creating some kinda feedback-loop or something. You've already got crazy labidos and you've all got the hots for each other! It's amplifying the whole situation."

Hinata swallowed her food before responding. "First, that was an impressive scientific explanation, well done. Second… you might be right about that feedback-loop idea. It might be a good idea for one or two of us to spend some time alone today and see how that makes us feel."

"What? No way," Kiba bellowed. "There's no point! Even if little bro is right, there's not a whole lot we can do about it. We're all kinda stuck together at this point."

It seemed they needed a tie breaker. As much as Naruto hated to do it, he knew who he had to side with on this one. "I think Hinata's got a point. Sure, there's probably not a ton we can do if Akamaru's right, but we can at least check to see if he is so we can decide if it's worth looking into or not."

Kiba wait until she was done chewing her food to reply, mostly because she was trying to think of a reason her friends were wrong. She could've chewed all day if she wanted; nothing was going to come to her. "Dammit, I really hate it when you guys are right… fine. We'll try one day apart from each other and see how that goes. Naruto and Akamaru can go head off wherever they want and me and Hinata will stay here to watch the place."

"Hold on! Why am I going with him?"

"Because you two need to bond some more. I don't care if you guys go bowling, shoot guns, get drunk, or go to a strip club. Just go enjoy yourselves."

Hinata giggled and took a sip of coffee, "Kiba, you never fail to find the most 'colorful' way of describing something."

"And you never fail to find the most fancy-smancy way to describe something," Kiba fired back. "Yet, we love each other anyways."

Not exactly the way Naruto had been planning on spending his day, but still, it didn't sound horrible either. He looked over at Akamaru and point-blank asked him, "What do you say? How about you and I get to know each other outside of the loud idiot and dog we used to be when were in the Hidden Leaf?"

Akamaru seemed to be thinking it over. He was reluctant at first, but seemed to change his tune when an idea struck him, "Sure, we could go out for awhile. In a place like New York, who knows what we might find…"

"Right," Naruto replied, narrowing his eyes. Something about the way Akamaru said that last bit didn't sit right, but they were leaving the house either way, so Naruto just went with it. "Okay, we'll leave after everybody has a chance to jump in the shower."

A small smile crept onto Hinata's face, "Maybe we could save time to by showering together?"

This day away was looking more and more necessary by the minute…

* * *

"So, got anything you're leaning towards doing?" Naruto asked, walking through the new neighborhood with Akamaru by his side. "The strip club option seems a little on the nose… I never really been much for bowling… guns are kinda lame compared to what we can do."

Akamaru shrugged, not paying much attention to anything his friend had to say. "Then we'll go see a movie or something."

"That could work. You have anything in particular you wanna see or are you just in the mood for some popcorn?" There was a pause, one that was too long to just be Akamaru thinking it over, so Naruto looked over to see what was taking so long. He found his canine friend was nowhere in sight. "Just a couple minutes and he's gone… that's actually longer than I thought it'd take him."

So Akamaru was gone, and Naruto was still kicked out of the house for the day. What to do? The movies didn't actually sound too bad. Or he could go and kick some bad guy ass to work out some of his pent up energy. Both good options, but they wouldn't hold a candle to the one that was about to be presented to him.

"Holy shit, Naruto?"

That voice? It couldn't be… Naruto turned towards the voice and found none other than his one time lover Ava heading a straight for him, a great big smile on her face. "I'll be damned. Ava, what the hell are you doing here?"

"I'm in town on some uh… business stuff. Never thought I'd run into you here."

"Yeah, I just moved here yesterday. Got a house and everything. For the first time in a long ass time I'm actually gonna be in one spot for more than a fucking week."

Ava's eyes lit up at that, "So am I! I was just about to go get some lunch. You've gotta come with me. We've got so much shit to catch up on."

They certainly did. Naruto agreed to have lunch with her, not giving much thought as to how Hinata or Kiba might feel about it. He wasn't' thinking about fouling around with Ava at the moment, even if he was attracted to her. Hinata and Kiba meant too much for him to just jump into bed with someone else. Whether or not Ava knew that was another story…

* * *

To Akamaru's credit, he hadn't run off without a semi-decent reason. That morning, Doreen had texted him and asked if he had any interest in getting tutoring in some of the classes he'd been missing. He wasn't about to turn down spending the day with his new girlfriend, so he ditched Naruto the second he wasn't looking and booked it straight to Doreen's apartment.

They'd been going over some pretty simple stuff so far, some random chore class bullshit, and from there had moved on to photography. Most of it was just the basics, going over stuff like the Rule of Thirds, getting the aperture on your camera right, setting up the shutter speed, things like that. The second Doreen showed Akamaru photoshop and started talking about color correction, burning and dodging, saturation, and about a hundred other things, the poor boys head started to spin.

"Wait, so am I supposed to try and make people's faces look softer or bring out their wrinkles?" Akamaru asked, squinting at the picture Doreen was editing.

"It depends on what you're going for. Professor Parker likes the pictures you turn in to have some kind of controlling idea. You know, some idea you wanna convey. Everything you do, from the framing to the coloring, should try and convey that. That's what Parker says anyways."

Akamaru couldn't think to do anything but blink, "...I thought you said this class was easy."

"It is," Doreen replied. "He doesn't expect the work to be perfect. As long as he can see you can see you were really trying, Parker's pretty lenient about grades. Plus, I'm really good at editing photos, so I can help make a piece of shit look like a masterpiece… or like something you're willing to turn in at least."

On that, Akamaru would have to take her word. From their, they'd moved on to Dr. Connors class. Unfortunately his tutor hadn't been able to make much headway in that area, even after an hour's worth of work.

"I'm never going to get this." Akamaru exclaimed as he threw his Zoology homework onto the table.

"Just keep with it, it'll eventually click." Doreen encouraged from her seat next to him.

"You keep saying that, but seriously? How am I supposed to memorize the correct taxonomic order of all these animals?" The teen challenged.

"Easy. I know Dr. Conners will have a word bank so everyone in the class can spell the Latin correctly, so I'm sure you can piece everything together. All you have to remember is one simple phrase, Kids Play Cards On Fat Guy's Stomachs." At seeing the raised eyebrow, Doreen elaborated, "It's a mnemonic device to remember that the order is Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species. There's also sub-orders and other things like that, but since you're in Zoology I Dr. Conners won't test on that."

"Alright," Akamaru began as he tried out the device, "So then a dog would be classified as Animalia…Chordata…Mammalia…Carnivora…Canidae…Canis…and Lupis?"

"That's right!" Doreen cheered, "Just remember that every answer will start with Animalia, things with backbones will be Chordata, warm-blood is Mammalia, and so on and so forth. Just remember the general basics' of each category and you'll be fine."

"Thanks." Akamaru said with genuine sincerity. Soon however the teen's mind wondered to something else. "Say, since you've given me so much help with Zoology, maybe you could help me with Anatomy?"

Doreen easily saw through the move, but leaned forward as she said, "I wasn't aware you were taking that class this semester."

Moving closer, Akamaru grinned as he said, "Maybe I've sat in on a few lectures."

Both teens closed their eyes and began to lean in, only for a sudden spray of cold to cause them to jump apart. Standing in front of the pair was an unamused Nancy holding a spray bottle while Tippy Toe sat perched on her shoulder. "I thought we had an agreement that you would keep make out sessions with your boyfriend in the bedroom."

After wiping the water off her face, Doreen calmly stated, "That was unwarranted, he's not my boyfriend."

Hearing this, Nancy turned to Akamaru with a questioning gaze, to which the boy explained, "With how my previous relationships have gone, not to mention the weird situation my sister is currently in, I didn't want to jinx anything with labels and Doreen agreed. Plus it's a nice loophole so we can do this." Without warning Akamaru gently turned Doreen's head to steal a quick kiss, to which the girl eagerly compiled and gave one back. Before the pair could evolve into anything further, Nancy once more sprayed the two down.

"Doreen, could I please talk to you in the kitchen?" Nancy asked her roommate. Although the shorter girl rolled her eyes, she did as requested, but not before stealing another kiss.

Knowing the two would fix their problems quickly, Akamaru just chuckled at the situation. Willing to give the pair some privacy, and being tired of reading, the boy turned on the television to see the evening news was on. He had no idea so much time had passed. A particular headlining story caught his attention.

Quickly gathering his things, Akamaru knocked on the kitchen door before heading in. "Hey sorry to interrupt, but I came to tell you that I've got to go. A supervillain fight just wrecked my way home so now I'm going to be stuck in at least a three hour detour."

Nancy was the first to respond, opening her mouth before Tippy began squeaking, causing the girl to pause before grinning. Beginning to speak once more, Nancy stated, "We can't let you do that Akamaru. It's gonna get nasty out there by then. You can crash here for the night."

"Really? Where am I going to sleep? Mew's already claimed the couch, and we all know not to try and move her." Akamaru asked.

"Simple, you can share Doreen's bed." Nancy replied, as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

"WHAT!?" Both Akamaru and Doreen cried. Nancy had been hoping for that.

"Well I mean you two might not be into labels, but you might as well be dating. It's not like I'm saying you have to have sex; it's just sharing a bed like at a sleepover. I mean you two would eventually get to this point, so why not now?" Nancy asked, only for Akamaru to immediately answer.

"I don't have anything to sleep in, and I usually sleep in the buff." The teen admitted without any shame. When both young ladies, and Tippy Toe gave him questioning looks, he huffed before defending himself. "Look it's just what I've always done."

"No, it's fine." Nancy reassured him before stating, "I think Tomas left a few things behind the last time he was here, you guys are about the same size. Check by the washing machine and head to bed if you want. I'm sure Doreen wants to talk to me about something."

Once more Akamaru nodded before doing as instructed. He ended up finding a pair of boxers that looked like they'd fit fairly well. As he walked to Doreen's room, he couldn't help but overhear Doreen's and Nancy's conversation. It wasn't like he could turn off his enhanced hearing. While Doreen's speech was too fast and high pitched to make out, he easily heard Nancy say, "Don't worry about it so much. He's gotta see it sooner or later."

'So Doreen's got a birthmark or something.' Akamaru thought to himself before he headed off to Doreen's bedroom. It was still a bit early to go to bed, but he was sure they'd fill it with plenty of studying, talking, and if he was lucky, a good old fashioned makeout session.

* * *

Catching up with Ava was just as much fun as Naruto figured it would be. He gave her a basic rundown of what he'd been up to since they last spoke, keeping it vague by saying that he'd 'reconnected with old friends' or 'quit the job he'd had when he first met her;. For her part, Ava hadn't been much more specific. She told Naruto she was in town for some school business and that she'd been traveling around a lot lately for that kind of stuff. Nothing too crazy, but still, it was nice to know they were both doing well.

Lunch hadn't been too extravagant, just some burgers and fries, but Johnny had recommended a good place to Naruto and the meal ended up being pretty damn great. After that, they chatted for a little while longer before promising to meet up again, exchanging numbers, and heading their separate ways. It was a far more laid back day than Naruto had been expecting.

Renewed and refreshed, Naruto returned home to find Kiba and Hinata in the living room, watching a kung-fu movie about a bride seeking revenge against the people who'd ruined her wedding. The exact line he heard when he walked in was, " _It's mercy, compassion, and forgiveness I lack. Not rationality."_

"Sounds like you guys are watching a real pleasant movie."

Hinata smiled at her lover as he entered the room, "Not exactly pleasant, but it's pretty entertaining so far. Pause the movie, Kiba. I don't wanna miss anything."

The movie was paused just as one of women on screen started to reach into a box of cereal. Kiba looked Naruto up and down and said what she felt fairly certain was on everyone's mind, "Well, I'm still horny as fuck."

"Same," Hinata piped in. "Guess that means it's not a feedback loop."

"Yeah, we're just a regular old set of horny bastards," Naruto agreed. "So, what're we gonna do about it? I mean, we've gotta find some way to get rid of all this energy. Kicking people's asses are only going to get us so far."

Kiba thought for a couple of seconds and then piped in, "We could always hire someone to help us work it off."

That was true, but it didn't make it a good option as far Naruto was concerned. "If I'm gonna be sleeping with someone on a regular basis, I want it to be someone I give a shit about. You guys are the ones who said it's the best way to do it, right?"

"He makes a good point," Hinata muttered. She didn't like the idea of sharing Naruto with a woman other than Kiba. "But there's not really anyone we can ask to join in-"

"What about Laura?" Kiba interrupted. "Naruto made it pretty clear he still wants a relationship with her. Hell, I think we may have floated this idea once already a few days ago."

Hinata had been hoping they'd forgotten about that. Such a hope would be crushed by Naruto's next sentence, "I did, but it might be hard to talk her into all this. Her dad already threatened to kill me if I kept seeing her. Can't imagine what he'd do if found out I got her added to some kinda harem."

"It's not a harem if it's just two girl and one guy," Grumbled Hinata, "And if you ask me, that's how it should stay."

This earned a small elbow in ribs from Kiba, "Don't be like that. We should be open to whatever suggestion comes to mind. I love you, I love Naruto, and who knows, maybe I'll love Laura or whoever else comes along."

"Oh yeah? Then would Naruto be okay if brought another guy in on all this?" Hinata asked, though it sounded more like an accusation than a question.

Naruto fought to keep his eye from twitching, "We could always look into it. I don't swing that way, but you girls would um… GRRRR…"

The noises he was making nearly Kiba on the floor she started laughing so hard. "Are you growling right now? Oh my gosh, that is the best thing ever! Somebody tape this!"

"Laugh all you want, but Naruto just proved my point! We'd all get jealous if we tried this stuff! Why even bother?"

Kiba had a pretty easy answer to that one, "Because it could work. We could try adding a girl, or even a guy, or whatever else we can think of. Who knows? For something as good as this, I'm willing to give it a shot."

"Dammit, Kiba…" Hinata said through her teeth. "I hate it when you make sense."

"So are we saying we should try for Laura or somebody like that?" Naruto asked.

Hinata, continuing to do what could only be described 'pouting' replied, "Fine, but we've all have to approve the choice first!"

That sounded fair enough to Naruto and Kiba. Now only one question remained… who the hell were they going to introduce to this mess first?

* * *

On most days, the news Mephisto had just gotten would send him into a rage fit to burn down a jungle. Today, however, as he sat in some dingy bar with Dr. Strange across from him, he only had to pretend that it did. A simple enough task. Bullshitting had become something of an artform for the demon lord over the years.

"So you're backing down, just like that? I always knew you were a fucking coward, Strange."

Dr. Strange stared down Mephisto, the insult bouncing right off of him. "Our partnership's done. No amount of name calling is going to change that. I've got everything I need from you, now it's time for me and other sorcerers to handle-"

"You morons couldn't 'handle' a fucking cold," Mephisto bellowed. "You wanna save the world? Stay out of my way and let me remind the Dark Dimension that our realm is off limits!"

"I can't trust you, not with this or anything else for that matter. If you smell so much as the smallest hint of blood in the water, you will strike. It's who you are. That's a risk I can't take."

If only Strange knew just how right he was. This seemed like a good enough point to try and push the conversation to its end. "Order me around as much as you'd like, Sorcerer Supreme. I make no promises I'll corral my Riders."

"And I make no promises they'll receive any of my protection if we cross paths," Strange replied. He stood up, finished his tea, and headed for the door. "Don't do anything stupid, Mephisto."

Mephisto screamed at him as left, "Who the fuck goes to a bar and orders a tea?"

A petty jab, but one Strange would expect from Mephisto. One the sorcerer was gone, Mephisto couldn't help but chuckle to himself, "Go and chase your tail, Strange. I've gotta pay Naruto a visit… it's time for me to play my trump card."

* * *

When it came to Ava, the suspicion Naruto had when he first met her was far from unfounded. She was more than the average college student she claimed to be, a lot more in fact, and it left her with things far worse than grades or tuition payments to worry about. Ava was known by another name to some, a much more fearsome one… The White Tiger.

She was one of many people to take up the mantle, having inherited it from her older brother, Hector. Ava was in possession of the Jade Tiger Amulet, an artifact that made her stronger, faster, and gave her razor-sharp claws. As powerful as this amulet was, it still required training to be used properly, and that's what Ava had been spending most of her adult life doing. Nothing was going to stop her from fully becoming the White Tiger as long as she was above ground and breathing.

Of course, that amulet and all it's powers came with a price. Part of the reason Ava was forced to move around so frequently was to protect the amulet from potential predators, and right now she had one of the deadliest in the world hot on her tail. His name was Kraven the Hunter, and he'd just found his way to New York.

Kraven was a whole other can of worms himself. Most people knew he was a hunter with inhuman levels of skill, some claimed from magic, others from science. He never hunted with a gun, choosing to take down his prey the old-fashioned way. It was more honorable in his eyes. His current hunt may have been his most challenging yet, but if he could capture the White Tiger, who would dare question his hunting prowess? And it wasn't just that. If he managed to take that amulet for himself, there'd be no prey able to best him. Not even Spiderman...

The rooftops of New York were Kraven's hunting grounds on that night, (not the first time that had been the case), and he'd been relying on his sense of smell more than anything else. After using the amulet for so long, Ava had taken on a particular scene that was easy enough to track even in a city as heavily populated as this one. With every leap, Kraven could tell he was getting closer, "It's not far now. Prepare yourself, White Tiger. Tonight, I take your hide for myself!"

After another few hundred feet, Kraven came to a halt. The scent was strong; the White Tiger had to be near! But, where was she? Kraven scanned the street below until his eyes fell on a small café on the street below him. There he saw a young lady sitting, a tea in her hand and amulet around her neck. "She wear's it in public? Hm… perhaps the Tiger will not be the challenge I once thought she would be."

The young lady stood up and left some money on the table she'd been sitting at before heading on her way. She went less than a block before turning down a dark alleyway, one that didn't go anywhere as far as Kraven could tell. "Cornering yourself, young one? I was hoping for something a bit more challenging. Too bad."

He jumped down the wall, using a knife to slow his fall until he was close enough to the ground to land safely. When he hit the ground, the young woman didn't so much as turn to look at him. She just kept walking towards a chain link fence in front of her. Kraven couldn't wrap her head around what he was seeing. "My word, girl! Are you sure you're worthy of that amulet you carry!"

"About as sure as I am that I'm about to kick your ass!" Cried Ava. She threw a small pellet onto the ground creating a massive explosion of light. When the light cleared, she was dressed in head to toe in a white leotard with black tiger stripes, green eyes, cat ears, and claws. Ava was crouched down and ready for a fight, "You're Kraven the Hunter, right? What, you couldn't get Spider-Man so you decided to come after me for a change?"

"I'll handle him after I'm done with you," Kraven replied. He pulled a retractable spear from his belt and extended it. He gave it a few brief spins in attempt to intimidate the White Tiger before charging at her. She leapt over the attack and dove onto Kraven's back. It sent him off balance, but he managed to keep from falling. Somehow, this musclehead was even stronger than he looked. "Oh, this is not gonna be fun…"

Kraven spun around and hurled the spear at Ava, who managed to dodge to the left of it. Next thing she knew, he was throwing a net at her too. The White Tiger shredded it with her claws easily enough. Only now did Kraven start to smile. "What a wonderful specimen you are! It will be a thrill taking your amulet and claiming victory over you!"

"First of all, never call me a specimen ever again," the White Tiger growled. "Second, you've got no idea how much pain you're about to be in!"

"That's it, little one! Keep on fighting! I want this to be a fight for the ages!"

* * *

That wish would be granted, only not exactly in the way that Kraven had hoped. He had no idea that Naruto Uzumaki was currently headed for the cafe Ava had been waiting at, having texted him roughly ten minutes prior to meet her there. Hinata and Kiba hadn't exactly been in love with the idea of him seeing her, even after the discussion they'd had, but told him to head off anyways. As long as he didn't jump right in bed with her, what was really the harm?

When the Rider arrived he realized and saw Ava wasn't there waiting for him, it was a no-brainer that something wasn't right. Next thing he knew, he heard some kind of a scuffle in an alleyway not to far off. He was ready to go rushing towards it, gun blazing, but stopped himself just short. 'Shit, too many people around for me to change!' Naruto thought to himself. There was another alleyway, roughly thirty yards from the first one, which gave Naruto the chance to duck away to transform. Luckily, there was no around to see him either, so his Ghost Rider form came without a hitch… or at least he thought it did until he heard a cough behind him.

Naruto spun around to find a hobo with clothes the perfect color to blend in to the dirty brick all around him. Neither of them moved at first, until the hobo picked up one of his hands and moved it out from behind his, big scruffy beard. He gave Naruto a thumbs up, nodded, and said a single word. "Nice."

"Thanks," Naruto said back. He ran off, confident the hobo wouldn't be saying much of anything. By the time he got into the alleyway with Kraven and Ava, their fight had managed to heat up even more. Both had rips and tears in their clothing, small drops of blood running from their mouths, and were damn near out of breath. Whether this was going to make things easier or more difficult on the Ghost Rider, he wasn't really sure. "You guys really did start this party without me, didn't you?"

The first to look over was Kraven. "Begone, hellspawn! This matter does not concern you!"

Ava glanced over next. "What're you, HOLY SHIT!"

"I get that reaction a lot," Remarked the Ghost Rider. He let his chain fall to the ground and called out to Kraven. "Step away from the feline before I introduce you to a predator you don't have a fucking chance of taking down."

Intimidation was something Kraven didn't take kindly to. "I've heard of you, Rider! Your unholy powers don't frighten me!"

"And I'm just fine taking down this neanderthal myself." The White Tiger screamed. Naruto noted that this hero had the same fighting spirt Ava displayed when he first met her. He didn't know how right he was either. He'd still assumed Ava had run off when the action started, not that she was _taking part_ in the fight.

"Just think of it as me trying to cut down on collateral damage." The Ghost Rider countered. He started to swing his chain, just fast enough to get their attention. "Now break it up before I have to."

This crap had gone on long enough. Kraven disengaged from the White Tiger and dove in the direction of the Ghost Rider. "You might not be an ordinary animal, but I'll still be more than happy to tear you apart as if you were!"

A foolish attack, and one Naruto was more than ready for. Or at least, he would've been, if it had ever come. The White Tiger wasn't ready to give up her prey, not even close. She leaped on Kraven's back before he could get far and slammed him onto the ground below. It didn't stop there. Ava the proceeded to smack Kraven in the back of the head over and over, slamming it into the concrete every time. "I told you, he's MINE!"

"Um, you might wanna…" Naruto started, quickly trailing off when he saw blood starting to drip from Kraven's head. "On second thought, you _definitely_ wanna tone it down a bit."

Ava would eventually tone it down, but only after she was sure Kraven was down for the count. With a bloody, torn up face, all Kraven could bring himself to do was groan. The White Tiger felt perfectly safe jumping off from him and addressing the Ghost Rider. "Okay, you glorified birthday candle! What do you think you were doing trying to come in here like some asshole white knight I didn't ask for?"

"I hear a scuffle and I run in. It's what I do! How was supposed to know everything was okay? Hell, the only reason I'm deciding your one of the good guys is because I know what a nutjob Kraven is!"

"Fine, whatever! Just get out of here and let me claim this win!"

"Whatever you say... crazy, cat lady."

Ava was too busy being pissed to fight the insult, so he ducked out of there while he still could. As he walked by, the homeless man from the before poked his head out of the alley holding a joint. "Hey bro, can you spot me?"

"Sure thing… bro." The Ghost Rider replied, lighting the joint as he walked by.

"Blaze on, bro." The hobo said, taking a puff. "Blaze on…"

* * *

The night went pretty much how Akamaru had been hoping it would, better actually. They'd gotten more homework done, told each other some great stories, and ended up making out. Imagine his shock when Doreen was the one who decided to slip him a little tongue.

That was where it ended though. Akamaru had climbed into bed while Doreen went got her pajamas on. After getting comfortable, he waited a few minutes until Doreen entered, wearing a pair of short gym shorts and a tank top.

While the teen admired the sight before him, Doreen asked, "Could you scooch over a little?"

Complying with the request, the white haired teen shifted his position on the bed until he was laying on his left side against the wall. Doreen was quick to turn off the lights and climb into bed herself, at which point Akamaru lazily threw his arm over the girl and pulled her closer to him, noticing something odd.

While by no means an expert, from his own experience Akamaru could tell Doreen's behind had a bit more give to it than it should. His bed mate seemed to realize he came to this conclusion as she said, "Hey, could you roll over? I'm not very used to sleeping on my left and it's just too awkward to look at you in my bed right now." Deciding to search for answers later, the boy did as he was asked and turned to face the wall, feeling Doreen snuggle into his back moments later.

As he was about to drift off to sleep, Akamaru couldn't help but voice a thought, "Look, I get that who we've been with before shouldn't and doesn't matter, but were you and Tomas…"

He let the question trail off, Doreen still huffed before answering, "Full disclosure, I had a crush on him but by the time I was going to act on it he already had a girlfriend. As to why he left some clothes here, we had a group project, he stayed for a few days and never bothered to collect his dirty laundry." Now Doreen was on a roll as she finished with, "And while we're sharing truths I'm not okay with this no labels thing."

Turning his head to just barely see his bedmate, Akamaru asked, "So you do want me to call you my girlfriend? To have me say I'm your boyfriend? You want the whole deal with holding hands in the park?" At seeing Doreen eagerly nod, Akamaru smirked, as he said, "Alright oh so beautiful girlfriend of mine, we can do that." He then started to roll back over, only to Doreen's hand to keep him in place.

"Not so fast big boy," the young woman began. "You don't get to see me with bedhead until after I meet this crazy sister of yours."

"Alright." Akamaru agreed, turning back over, "She's working out somethings with her girlfriend right now, but I'll be sure to bring you and everyone around the house sometime within the next few days."

"Sounds great," Doreen muttered, her eyes starting to drift closed. Akamaru fell asleep not long after that, and the two shared the first of what would likely be many nights sleeping side by side…

* * *

With Kraven handled and the night coming to and end, Naruto returned home one tired, sore individual. He walked in the door and yawned loud enough for the entire house to hear. Kiba and Hinata still in the living room, ready to greet their exhausted lover.

"Took ya long enough, stud." Kiba said, her extended canine teeth shining as she grinned. "Everything go okay?"

Naruto nodded. "Eh, it was kind of a mixed bag. Ava wasn't there, but I got to see Kraven get his ass kicked. Ava texted me and told me see was okay too, so I guess it all worked out well enough."

"A text?" Hinata repeated. She watched Naruto take out his phone and unlock it. Next thing anyone knew, she'd snatched it up and started reading aloud. "'Hey, just took care of some personal business. Went well. Looking to celebrate… winky face.' That little-OW!"

That 'ow' had been curtosty of Kiba flicking Hinata in the forehead and taking the phone back, "Bad Hinata! We talked about this!"

"We talked about maybe looking into a new person, not some random girl trying to work her way into Naruto's pants!"

"She's not working her way into anything! I'm gonna tell her it's not a good night and that we can talk tomorrow. We said we were gonna make the call together. No-one's sleeping with anyone until we all agree!" After that last sentence, Naruto snatched back his phone, "Also, this is mine."

He texted her back and tossed his phone onto the couch. "And with that, folks, I am turning in for the night. If you need me, I'll be brushing my teeth and taking a nice, long shower."

Kiba grabbed him by the wrist before he could get out of the room. She pulled him close to her and leaned into his neck, nipping at it as she whispered, "Are you sure there's not one other little thing you wanna do before you go shower? Something that might get you all hot and sweaty?"

"Oh, I'm sure I can find a little time for that. Hinata, you gonna get in on this?"

For the first time in a long time, Hinata wasn't a sure. She thought about it, glanced over at Naruto's phone, and then shook her head. "I'm not in the mood. Thinking about you with _Ava_ doesn't exactly put me in the mood."

"Your loss," Kiba said, pulling her lover towards the bedroom. "Come on, Naruto. Time for us to have a little fun."

Hinata waited until they were gone, then snuck her way over to the couch. She grabbed the phone, muttering to herself, "Ava wants to be a part of this group? Let's show her what that really means."

* * *

"So how do you know Naruto exactly?" Ava asked Hinata. The two of them were currently walking through the latter's house. Ava had gotten a text from Naruto saying he'd changed his mind about seeing her tonight. When she came to the door, she was greeted by a woman who seemed far too eager to meet her. "Are you like his sister, or a friend of his?

"We're certainly close," Hinata replied. She was smirking to herself as she lead Ava towards Naruto's bedroom. "He should be in his room, just-"

That sentence would be interrupted by one of a different nature. Both women knew it was Naruto's voice screaming through the door. "Oh yeah! Feels like heaven!"

Ava didn't know what came over. Maybe it was instinct, maybe it was morbid curiosity. Either way, when she opened the bedroom door the young woman found a heartbreaking sight. On the bed, lost in bliss was Kiba moaning as Naruto kept thrusting into her. "Yeah that's right big boy!" Kiba yelled, "Fuck your bitch! Claim me!"

"Naruto, Kiba," Hinata yelled in a scolding tone. "You guys are starting without me? That's just rude."

The whole thing was enough to break Naruto and Kiba out of their focused state. Naruto looked over at Ava, his mouth wide open. "A-ava. I didn't-"

"Didn't what?" Hinata asked. "Tell her about our little arrangement? I'm sorry you had to see this, Ava, but if you want to be with Naruto, you should have a full picture of what that means."

"What I should do is get the fuck out've this house!" Ava cried. "You're all a bunch of perverts! God, Naruto! You're no better than those fucking guys at that frat party! I can't believe I ever slept with you!"

She stormed out of the room and made a beeline for the front door. Naruto jumped off the bed and ran to the doorway, "Ava, wait! Shit…"

"Are you fucking kidding me," Kiba screamed at Hinata. She walked right up to her lover and leaned right into her face. "That was LOW, Hinata! I never thought in a million years you'd stoop to pulling a stunt like that!"

Hinata shrugged, "It was an accident."

"Bullshit! Ava wasn't even supposed to be here! You did this because you wanted to scare off Ava!"

"Of course I did! I love him! The idea of him being with anyone else makes me want to jump out of my own skin!"

Kiba shook her head, turning away from Hinata. "I get that. Really, I do, and that's why we were going slow… but what you did was beyond uncalled for."

The look on Kiba's face was more than just anger. It was downright betrayal. Hinata turned towards her other love, "Naruto-kun…"

"Don't call me that." Naruto muttered. "Not tonight. In fact, don't even bother coming to bed. I can't look at you right now."

Hinata took a step back. She couldn't stand to be in the bedroom for so much as another second. No one could hear her mumble on her way out, "I'm sorry…"

* * *

That night, Hinata did as she'd been asked and let Kiba and Naruto have the bed to themselves. She would sleep in the 'dog house' room, a guest room they'd decided would be where someone could sleep if they get in argument or something like that. On her way towards it, she passed their bedroom, peeking in to see Naruto and Kiba cuddle up next to one another.

She could hear Naruto whispering to Kiba, "Do you think this whole 'multiple lovers' thing was just a pipe dream?"

"I think it could work with the right people. Not strangers, obviously, but someone we were friends with. Hinata obviously still needs to adjust to the idea. She doesn't want some other girl to swoop in and take you from us."

"That's ridiculous."

"I know it is, and it's not excuse for what she did, but I'm sure that's how she feels. Either way, we'll work it all out. Good night, Naruto."

"Night, Kiba."

They were so comfortable together. Whether or not they'd finished what they started before Ava found them, Hinata couldn't say. She doubted it though. The two people she loved most in the world were just lying there, sleeping so peacefully. Hinata could've been a part of that too, but she they didn't want her. She'd pushed away Naruto and Kiba, something she'd sworn she'd never do, and now she was paying the price.

"I fucked up," Hinata whispered to herself. "I fucked up BAD."

She headed for room, a single thought dominating her mind. 'I've got to make this right…'


	14. Under the Surface Pt 2

Here we go, another chapter of Uzumaki Rider. This one should be a fun one. First of all, we're not exactly done with Kraven yet, but you'll see what that means soon enough. Hinata has her own set of things to answer for too, so there's that, and there's still plenty of things to cover with Akamaru and Doreen. Things with Mephisto and Laura are going to come to a head as well. In a nutshell, everybody's still trying to settle in while a set of shadowy figures are working in the background. Oh, and fair warning, this chapter will feature the first full fledged lemon of the story. Nothing too plot centric will be involved, so if it's not your thing, feel free just to skim through it. Thank you all for reading and be sure to review.

Chapter Soundtrack - Siames: The Wolf

* * *

"Keep it moving, buddy," One of the guards said as they pushed Kraven towards his cell. He was in a temporary containment facility for super-powered individuals, one that New York found itself using all too often.

Kraven was bound by chains at his hands, feet, and neck. He clinked with every step, his bindings somehow making his orange jumpsuit even more uncomfortable. "I can't believe you're forcing me to wear this ridiculous outfit."

The second of the two guards began laughing, "Oh, but the leopard print you were wearing when we found was normal?"

"It had more honor than this piece of garbage, or what either of you happen to be wearing. Don't worry, you won't have to worry about it much longer."

One of the guard turned to Kraven and raised up an assault rifle, pointing it right at Kraven's head. "If that's supposed to be a threat, you might wanna rethink-"

Next thing the guard knew, Kraven threw his chain around the barrel of the guard gun. He pulled it from the guard's grip and tossed it aside. The second guard tried to raise up his own gun, but Kraven head butted him before he could. He lost his grip on the gun, allowing the hunter to elbow his hand and force him to drop it. All the guard could think to do was pull out his taser jam it in Kraven's chest. It hardly managed to phase the hunter, "Is that the best you can manage? No wonder you fools can't keep anyone chained down."

"Fool this, you piece a-" The other guard said as he tried to retrieve his gun. Kraven spun around the threw the first guard into him, knocking both of them against the bars and rendering them unconscious.

By that point, one of the security cameras had caught the whole thing and the alarms were sounded. Kraven could already hear the the chorus of stomping boots heading straight for him. He shivered in pure anticipation, "And so it begins. First, these imbeciles… then the White Tiger!"

* * *

While Kraven was fighting off a small army of guards, Hinata was off fighting off something of her own… shame. She stoodin front of the hotel Ava was staying at, apparently she was still looking for an apartment to rent while she was in New York, and it felt nearly impossible to face her after everything that had gone down. After what Hinata had done though, would it be right if it wasn't this difficult?

With great effort, Hinata raised up her hand and knocked on the door. It took a few minutes, but Ava did answer it eventually. She started closing the door the moment she saw Hinata. "Nope."

"Hold on," Hinata cried, forcing her foot in the door before it could slam shut. "What you saw at Naruto's place, there's a lot more to it than you think! And he wasn't the one who texted you to come over… that was me. Please, just let me explain!"

"I said NO!" Ava yelled, trying to force Hinata's foot from her door.

Hinata wasn't budging. "You know Naruto! If there's honestly not so much as one ounce of doubt inside of you that he'd hurt you like that, then I'll leave!"

Not even one ounce of doubt? That was a pretty high bar to clear. Luckily for Hinata, Ava had far more than ounce inside of her. She opened the door and grumbled through her teeth, "You've got 30 seconds."

"That should be all I need. First of all, he wasn't seeing anyone that night he slept with you. We only got together a couple of weeks ago. Second, I know this might sound crazy, but he has to have all kinds of sex because labidos crazy because he's a Ghost Rider… that is a _weird_ sentence."

Ava just blinked at Hinata, trying to think of a response. "...you're kidding, right?"

Rather than try and convince her, Hinata did something she knew would save a lot of time. She went full Ghost Rider form on her, biker outfit and all. "Does it look like I'm kidding?"

"Holy shit! Turn that the fuck off! I've got neighbors!"

Hinata did as she'd been asked before continuing, "So yeah, Naruto's a Ghost Rider, I'm a Ghost Rider, that girl Kiba you saw is a sorta werewolf thing, and she's got a younger brother sort of like her, but not exactly. Me, Naruto, and Kiba have all been helping each other out, since Mephisto's deal gave us all these crazy side effects… you probably don't even know who Mephisto is, do you?"

"Let's just pretend that I do." Ava replied. She in fact knew who Mephisto was rather well, but didn't want to let Hinata know that just yet. "What does it matter? You think it changes the fact that I feel like some cheap slut because I'm one of God knows how many girl's Naruto's slept with?"

"In his defense, he's not exactly happy about it," Hinata said meekly. "What I'm trying to get at is, Naruto isn't some frat kid who saw a pair of tits and an ass. He likes you, a lot actually… which is why I did something crazy when you texted last night. I love Naruto and Kiba, and the idea of sharing them with someone else makes my skin crawl. We've been talking about adding someone else to the group since we can't manage the side effects on our own, and when you're name came up and I found out how much he cared about you… well, you know."

Ava shuffled her feet, thinking for some time before she replied. "He really cares about me, huh? That's sweet and all… and I believe you, but-"

"But you don't think you can be a part of a relationship like that," Hinata finished.

Thinking of Naruto made it all the more difficult for Ava to answer. "I don't know. Naruto's seemed like such an amazing guy, and I don't think I've ever been THAT wrong about somebody."

"You're not wrong. And, since it's been more than thirty seconds, is it possible you just might be willing to call Naruto and let him know last night was all a misunderstanding? If there's anyone you should be mad at for this mess, it's me."

"I'm trying to be mad at you, but you acting all vulnerable makes it hard… punta."

Whatever that last word was, Hinata had a feeling it didn't mean anything good. She decided her best course of action was to get out while Ava still seemed somewhat okay with her. The two women shook hands and went on their way. Just as Ava was about to close her door, Hinata decided there was one last thing she needed to know. "Oh, and Ava? Just for the record, if you do decided to join up with us, you should know… the group sex is AMAZING."

Ava just blushed and closed the door. Apparently, she didn't have a response for that.

* * *

Satannish was on thin ice. It'd been over two weeks since Dormammu, or at least the person he thought was Dormammu, had sent him after Naruto Uzumaki and he still had nothing to show for it. For the past few days, he'd been watching the Rider and his associates from afar, waiting to see if there was any moment that'd be right for him to strike. So far, nothing.

While Satannish believed he could probably take Uzumaki in a fight, he wasn't so sure he could defeat his allies as well, let alone the other people a fight like that was bound to attract. This left the demon lord stuck between a rock and a hard place. All he could do was mumble to himself as he watched the house, "He'll be alone sooner or later; I know it. There'll be no stopping me then."

"If only we could actually believe that."

That wasn't a voice Satannish recognized. He spun on his heel, currently in his human form, and saw a figure of a woman behind him. She was hidden in a shadow cast by a chimney on the building, making it impossible for Satannish to make out a face. There was something swaying behind the woman, something he couldn't quite make out. "A visitor, eh? And a shy one at that…"

"Not shy, just cautious." The voice corrected him. "You've kept our master waiting too long, Satannish. It seems perfectly clear to her that you won't be able to hold up your end of the bargain."

"I don't know who _you_ work for, but _I'm_ working for Dorammau, and I don't think he'll be pleased to hear you're attempting to-"

The woman's pupils glowed a deep shade of crimson as he spoke. A small humming rang out through the air before it was overtaken by the sound of something whizzing through the air. It was a small, purple orb that struck Satannish in the chest, burrowing it's way inside his ribcage. He fell the ground in more pain than he'd ever felt in his entire life. His vision was blurred, so he couldn't make out much about the woman as he walked towards him and knelt down beside his body.

"You work for Umar, you just didn't know it." Whispered the woman. "And now you get to witness how she reacts to failure. That orb was from the Dark Dimension. It'll siphon away your power, slooooowly, until you're nothing but a heap of dust. You were born of its power, and now you'll die by it."

Satannish barley had to the strength to speak. "But who… who'll challenge… The Rider?"

"That task is mine now, and I can assure you, I won't fail Umar the way you have."

The woman stood up and looked gazed at the home of her new target. Through one of the window, she could see Naruto walking around the house, his spiky blonde hair swaying as he walked. This wasn't first time she'd seen the Rider. Umar had shown her a picture of Naruto some time ago and seeing him now triggered the same feeling she'd had back then. It was a frustrating feeling, like when you've got someone's name on the tip of your tongue but can't seem to remember. Whatever this feeling was went far beyond Naruto looking familiar; it was as though she'd known him her entire life. His foxy grin, whiskers, and deep blue eyes were all imprinted in her head, and yet she'd never seen him before.

"Naruto Uzumaki." The woman let the name linger on her tongue. She twirled her red hair in one of her fingers, trying to think. "Who are you to me?"

* * *

After they woke up, Akamaru and Doreen didn't have much time to talk about the night before. They both had classes to rush off to, so they scarfed down their breakfasts, gathered up their things, and said goodbye. There'd be a couple of classes they'd have together later in the day, but for the most part, it'd be awhile before Akamaru and Doreen could properly see each other again. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing, as it did give both of them a little time to think. And where did their thoughts lead them? Basically to the exact same place…

'Fuck… I think I might be in love.'

It was a bit too soon to tell for sure, but neither of them had ever felt this way before, and it was leading to all sorts of problem. Akamaru still hadn't found the courage to drop the bomb on Doreen that he used to a dog. There was no way she was just going to brush something like that off, right?

Well, that would probably depend on how well he took the new that Doreen was part squirrel. Not only that, but she used her squirreliness to fight crime as the one and only Squirrel Girl, with enhanced speed, reflexes, strength and the ability to talk to squirrels. How was this possible? Where did her powers come from? Why squirrels?

No one really knew… they just sort of manifested when she hit puberty. She wasn't exactly a mutant, they'd tested for that, but her DNA certainly had some irregularities. No matter what the reason, she was who she was, and sooner or later she was going to have to reveal that to Akamaru.

Said ex-dog nin was currently walking off campus, his mind struggling to focus on getting home. He needed some way to distract himself, if only for a few seconds, so he could clear his head a little. His gaze fell on a truck parked on the edge of the road by campus. Half a dozen men were busy loading up a truck with large wooden crates, and Akamaru got an idea. It wasn't much, but it would do for now. He called out to the one of the men loading the truck, "Hey, you guys need some help?"

"Um… maybe," One of the men said, oddly unsure of whether or not he should accept a simple favor. The others seemed to think it was fine, so the first man shrugged and went along with it. "Why not? Come on over and grab a crate."

Akamaru didn't need to be told twice. He ran right over and got started, lifting the heavy boxes far easier than anyone else could. After a few minutes, the other men were ready to stand back and just let him work. They didn't though, mainly because of a surprisingly loud voice up above them calling out, "You guys don't really think you're gonna get away with stealing all that equipment, don't you?"

"Stealing?" Akamaru repeated. "You guys didn't tell me you were stealing this shit!"

"Well duh," One of the other men growled, pulling out a small handgun. He grabbed Akamaru by the neck and pulled him over, putting the gun to his head. "And now, you're gonna help us again."

The owner of the voice came hurtling down towards them from her hiding place in the trees. It was a girl with a big, bushy tail, fake squirrel ears, and a fur leotard with grey tights. Her name, well, she'd declare that shortly after she landed. "You aren't doing a thing if Squirrel Girl has anything to say about it!"

One of the goons rolled his eyes. "Squirrel Girl? I thought we were gonna be dealin' with Daredevil or Spiderman; a real superhero."

"You don't think I'm a real superhero, huh?" Squirrel Girl asked. "I think my friends might have a different opinion."

At that point, they heard a small army of squeak all around them. The men realized they were completely surround by nearly three dozens angry squirrels. Never before had they been so frightened of a bunch of rodents. "Oh fuck…"

A small army descended on the men, scratching and biting and nibbling at the criminals. The squirrels were careful not attack Akamaru too, so they must've had some idea what they were doing. It was pretty easy for Akamaru to get free, and once he was it even easier for him to focus on other things, one of which was that the scent Squirrel Girl was putting off was oddly familiar. "Hold on a second." Akamaru took big whiff of the air around him, latching on to a scent that cut its way through the squirrels. "Doreen?"

"What?" Squirrel Girl asked, responding to her name. A second later she'd realized her mistake. "What… what… what is a Doreen?"

Akamaru nearly face palmed. "Really? That's the best you've got?"

Nothing Doreen could think to say was going to save her ass here. What would save her ass, however, was a phone hooked to her belt going absolutely crazy. She glanced down at it and declared with a smile, "Sorry, random citizen! An old friend of mine needs a talking to! You have yourself a wonderful day!"

"Hey, were aren't done talking here!" Akamaru cried, but Doreen was already gone, jumping onto a nearby fire-escape and leaping up a tall building. A growl escaped Akamaru's lips, "Or we are. Fine, if that's how I wanna play it, then that's how we'll play it! You're about to find out just how good my nose is!"

* * *

Laura didn't know what to expect. It'd been five seconds since she'd knocked on Naruto's door, and in that time a hundred different emotions ran through her. Fear, anger, happiness, anxiety, and anything else you could think of. Having her father next to her wasn't doing much to sooth her nerves either.

The click of the door knob brought her focus back to the matter at hand. Naruto's blue eyes were staring at Laura half a second later, and his foxy grin continued to make her heart flutter. He spoke before she could get a word out, "Laura? What the fuck are you doing here? Ah, who cares! Come on in; make yourself at home."

"Thanks, we will," Logan cut in. He pushed Naruto out of the way and forced his way into the house. "You've got some shit to answer for, Uzumaki."

This already wasn't going the way Laura had been hoping. "Dad, we agreed we'd ease him into this."

"Why? Not like you got anything eased for ya."

Naruto watched Laura walk in, wearing a bewildered look on his face. "Okay, anybody wanna fill me in on what all this about?"

While her father was ready to answer, Laura cut in before he could blurt out something he shouldn't. "Naruto, I got some pretty big news last week. I mean BIG."

"Okay. Nobody's dying or anything like that, right?"

Laura fought a burst of laughter, "Actually, it's kind of the opposite."

"Opposite? You mean like… no fuckin way."

"What? You sleep with a girl and now you're surprised by the results?" Logan asked with a sneer. "Looks like your kid's got a real smart father, eh Laura?"

Naruto barely moved. All his energy went to piecing this whole thing together. His words were coming out in a jumbled, rambely mess. "But, I didn't even think I could get a girl pregnant. I mean, I was always safe just to make sure, but I figured since I was a Ghost Rider I'd be sterile or something. Not like condoms always work anyways, so I thought if something was gonna fall through the cracks it already would've-"

If this went on any longer, Logan would end up smacking him. "Hey dumbass, something did fall through the cracks! And in a matter of months, yer either gonna have to feed it or make sure it's with somebody who can!"

"Dad! Stop yelling at him and let him try to process this!"

Something about hearing Laura say 'Dad' made this all feel real for Naruto. He took a deep breath, calming himself as much as he could given the circumstances. "Laura's pregnant… okay then. Do you know when you're due?"

"No, but I think it'll be faster than nine months. According to Jean and Hank, it's growing way faster than a normal baby."

"Then I'm sure it is," Naruto said. He knew both of them well enough not to question their judgement. "Do you have more info or do we need to find someone else who can fill us in?"

Speak of the devil.

There was a knock at the door. Naruto racked his brain, but couldn't think of who the hell it might be. "Let me tell whoever this is it's a bad time and then we'll talk more about what we're gonna do. I promise, I'm not going anywhere."

"I know, Naruto," Laura replied. "I know."

Naruto ran over to the door, ready to give his visitor the boot. Once he got it open, he actually found himself even more pissed off than he expected to be. "Oh you have GOT to be kidding me! Get the fuck outta here! We've got enough shit to deal with as it is!"

"Come on, that's how you greet an old friend?" Mephisto asked, pushing his way into the house even more rudely than Logan had. "We've got things to discuss, Naruto. And don't worry; I've decided to overlook your little rebellious streak. There's too many pleasant things for us to discuss."

"Pleasant things? Oh buddy, you don't know what kinda trouble you're about to be in."

By this point, their argument had caught the attention of Naruto's other house guests. Both Laura and Logan recognized Mephisto the second they saw him. Logan, as usual, was the first to open his mouth. "No! Hell no! Naruto, get your demon boss outta here and tell him not to come back until we've got this shit sorted out!"

Mephisto clicked the tongue on the roof of his mouth, shaking his head. He walked over to Laura, grinning down at her. "We can talk more joyously than that about something this wonderful, can't we? How are you feeling, Laura? Is our a little bundle of joy doing okay?"

"What're you-" Laura started to ask, but before felt her blood run cold before she could finish. Mephisto had but his hand on her stomach. His touch was unlink anything Laura had ever felt before. She jumped back, her eyes wide and pulse racing. "Don't touch me ever again!"

"My apologizes, I'm merely excited." Mephisto was grinning. "Seems like your doing well. Our little friend will be out and healthy in no time."

Naruto's eyes went wide at that. "I'm sorry, _our_ little friend? You've got no part in this, you rat bastard!"

For once, Logan was on Naruto's side. "You touch my daughter again and I'll send you back to where you came from before you can blink!"

"Both of you are so touchy. If I didn't know any better, I'd say neither of you understand how contracts work."

Oh shit. Everytime Mephisto brought up that damn contract, Naruto knew he was in for a nasty surprise. He racked his brain, trying to remember any detail he could from his contract. The pressure made it impossible for Naruto to think properly, but that was okay. Mephisto was more than happy to pull up the contract for him.

"It's right here, Uzumaki." Mephisto snapped his fingers and the contract materizled in a blinding blaze. He pointed at a small paragraph roughly half way down. "Read it for us… outloud."

"I'd rather watch you choke on it," Naruto growled. Without any other choice, he began to read. "'If during his work as a Ghost Rider, said Rider should conceive a child, this child's body and soul are forfeited to Mephisto and any other he deems fit.'"

Logan extended his claws and went straight for Mephisto, "I'm gonna go ahead and cut out your tongue so you can't spout any more of your bullshit."

There was little doubt in Mephisto's mind that Logan intended to do exactly as he'd said, which made it all the more important that he remind the mutant what was at stake. "You're free to try, Wolvie, but every stone you cast against me will be repaid to your grandchild ten-fold."

And just like that, he had more than just Logan to deal with. Naruto leapt at him, his eyes burning with rage. He and Logan slammed Mephisto right through the front door and into the street. There was about to be one hell of a brawl in heart of New York City.

"Because this whole thing wasn't stressful enough already…" Laura grumbled. She walked out the door, sighed, and looked down at her stomach. "Hate to break this to ya kid, but no matter what we decided to do, I don't think you're gonna have a normal life when you get out here."

* * *

Akamaru and Laura weren't the only ones tracking people down. From the moment he'd gotten free, Kraven had been searching every nook and cranny in the city for the White Tiger. Even if he had to rip it off her cold, dead body, he was going to get that Jade Tiger Amulet. It hadn't taken the hunter long to find Ava, who was in her White Tiger garb, running along the rooftops of the city. When it came to clearing a superhero's head, apparently there was nothing better than feeling the wind in your face.

"This shouldn't be this hard," Ava told herself, stopping on one of the roofs. "Just make a decision. Do you wanna give it a try or not? It's easy. Yes or no… yes or no… yes or no… dammit! I don't know!"

She heard a set of footsteps land behind her. Ava turned, figuging it'd be Spider-Man or maybe that new little friend of his in black and white that had been running around. (That was of course Gwen, someone who Ava would come to find had her own role to play in all this). What she got instead was a man whose ass she'd just kicked no more than twenty-four hours ago.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me. I don't usually use these claws to rip out somebody's throat, but you're really pushing me in that direction, Kraven!"

Kraven the Hunter smiled at his prey. "You shed all the blood you were going to last night, White Tiger. First, I'm going to snap your pretty little neck, and then, I'm going to rip that amulet off from it and cage you just like you tried to cage me!"

Ava rolled her eyes and extended her claws. "I'm eager to watch you try. I could use a little exercise to try and clear my head!"

"Let's see how you do when I'm not distracted," Kraven cried, rushing toward her.

His opponent rushed right back at him. They planned on turning this place into a bloody battlefield. A plucky girl with a squirrel tail, however, had a slightly different plan. "Stop!"

Doreen leaped up onto the roof out of nowhere and threw herself in between Kraven and the White Tiger. They both skidded to a stop, but only one of them recognized her. "Squirrel Girl? What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here? What are you doing here?" Squirrel Girl fired back. Ava had no idea what was happening at this point, so she more or less just stepped back and let this strange girl take over. "I'm a few blocks away taking care of a robbery, and all of a sudden I get a call that my friend just broke out of lock-up and is on his way to chase down some innocent girl? Didn't we just have this exact same conversation with Spiderman?"

"You can't ask me to fight my nature! A predator has to hunt!"

"He doesn't have to hunt people! Now I want you to apologize to this girl and go to the Savage Lands to think about what you've done!"

Kraven folded his arms over his chest, scowling at Squirrel Girl. "I am a grown man. Scartch that, I'm more than a man! You can't force me to do anything!"

"One…" Doreen began.

An eye roll from Kraven. "You must be joking."

"Two…"

"It's not going to work!"

"Th-"

She didn't get a chance to finish before Kraven cried, "Alright, alright! I'm going! And um… Miss Tiger?"

Ava was almost too shocked over what she was seeing to respond. "What?"

"I'm sorry for causing you so much trouble. I hope you have a lovely day."

With that, Kraven got a running start and leapt from the building. Squirrel Girl was left feeling awfully proud of herself, while Ava didn't have the foggiest idea what just happened. "Did… did you just tell off Kraven the Hunter?"

Squirrel Girl shrugged as though it were nothing. "Kraven's just a big old teddy bear. I've known him for awhile now. He's got a sense of honor and all that, he just takes his work too seriously sometimes. A little reminder is all he needs to get back on track."

"Right. Well, thank you for making him leave me alone. Not to be rude or anything, but I think I'm gonna go ahead and head home before another nutjob decides to come after me."

"Go right ahead. And you're very welcome."

Taking special care to go in the opposite direction that Kraven had, Ava got the hell off the roof and headed for home. Squirrel Girl planned on staying right the hell where see was, at least until she figured out how to talk to Akamaru about what happened back at the University. Staying where she was wouldn't prove to be much of a problem. Having time to think of what to say to Akamaru on the other hand…

"Geeze, there you are. Man you can run fast," Akamaru panted, climbing on top of the rooftop covered in sweat.

Doreen suddenly felt herself sweating as well. "I… I um… I'm not what you're doing up here, random-"

"Don't start with that crap again! I know it's you, Doreen!"

Yes, it seemed he did. She tried to think up a way to change the subject and came up with one, incredibly stupid option. "In that case… wanna makeout?"

Akamaru actually laughed out loud. "On any normal day, you know I would, but today, we've gotta talk."

"Fine! Do whatever you're gonna do! Call me a freak, yell at me for lying, laugh at my tail-"

"Actually, I think the tail's kinda cute."

Doreen blushed so hard it looked like she'd gotten a sunburn. "Really? You're not freaked out that I'm part squirrel?"

"I don't really have much room to judge, even if I wanted to. I used to be a dog."

That hardly compared as far as Doreen was concerned. "Okay, so you used get around a lot-"

"No, I mean I used to be a literal dog. Fur, tail, four legs, the whole nine yard. Even had fleas once or twice. Kinda still am, or at least something like one." He briefly went into his beast form, just enough of it to show Doreen what he meant, then switched right back to being a human. "I'm not a mutant, it's a magical thing with me. Long story. Is your tail like an X-Gene or something?"

"Nope, it's a completely unknown other kind of genetic mutation. I'm genetically and legally 100% different than a mutant... and before you ask, yes, I use shampoo and conditioner to keep my fur healthy."

At that point, it was inevitable. Both of them began laughing uncontrollably. If anyone had been around, they would've thought the two of them were crazy. They weren't though. All they were was relieved. Doreen was the first to get control of herself. "Looks like we've both got some explaining to do."

"Just a bit," Akamaru joked. "But I think we're gonna be okay telling each other anything we need to."

That they could. If only the rest of the gang was taking the news they had just gotten this well.

* * *

Three cars, four street lights, and eight windows. That, along with a healthy dose of damage to the roads and sidewalks, was the total amount of destruction the battle with Mephisto had managed to rack up so far. Unfortunately, Mephisto was still standing. The destruction was far from over.

"Oooohhhh," Mephisto groaned, picking himself up off the pavement. "You really don't know when to give up, do you, Wolvie? GAH!"

Logan shoved his claws into Mephisto's back, the perfect way to show the demon lord just how he felt about that question. He picked up Mephisto, his claws still in the bastard's chest, and threw over in Naruto's direction. Naruto was in his Rider form, so he caught his ex-boss by the neck and swung him into a nearby street lamp. Mephisto hit the ground and tried to stand up, but Naruto wasn't done. Yanking on his chain, the rider slammed the demon lord's head into the street lamp over and over again.

As if it couldn't get any more demeaning for Mephisto, Logan began laughing hysterically. "Haha, listen to his head thumping! Oh man! You and me don't always get along kid, but that was great!"

"You really are some petty bastards, you know that?" Mephisto asked, ripping the chain from his neck. "There's nothing you boys can do that'll make a dent, so why bother? You're just making things harder for that bundle of joy Laura's got in the oven."

"Fuck you," Naruto screamed, hurling a fireball in Mephisto's direction. "That kid is never even gonna know your name!"

The flame hit Mephisto head on. He absorbed the heat like a space shuttle tile and left Mephisto in the same state he'd been in since the fight began. Well, fight may not of been the best description. Mephisto hadn't so much as thrown a single punch… because he didn't need to. "Naruto, my old friend, you still don't seem to understand. I could never completely control you with my little 'reminders,' no matter how much pain I put you in. But this, this baby of yours, that's how I'll get you by the balls, and by extension Laura and Logan here. This kid is bound to me by magic. It'll follow my every command, including turning it into a monster that'll turn your poor stomach. Hell, who knows. Maybe if it's a girl, I can find other uses for her. Is that what you want, Uzumaki? For your kid to be my toy? How about you, Logan?"

Logan knew bait when he saw it. Mephisto wasn't going to make him angry enough to throw him off his game. Not a chance. "You want me to go crazy, Mephisto? You wanna see the beast you've heard so much about? Well you will, someday, when there aren't so many innocent people around who could get hurt. In the meantime, you can either get outta here or keep on getting the shit kicked out've you and healing so we can do it again. Your choice, bub."

"As much as I enjoy the company of you gentlemen, I'm think I'll take my leave. My point's been made. Tell Laura to make sure her and stay healthy. We want our precious child to come into the world happy and healthy."

If Mephisto hadn't teleported at that very moment, Naruto would've tried to snap his fucking neck. That ball of flame came through for the demon lord at the right moment though, and he got out just as Naruto's chain was about to wrap around his neck. It was the first time Naruto had actually been disappointed to see him go. "Dammit!" He turned to Logan. "You couldn't give us another few minutes to make that bastard suffer?"

"Laura's gonna be pissed if we're not back soon. We'll have plenty a' time to make him pay down the road. Oh, and Uzumaki?"

Naruto walked up to the mutant, matching his strides as the two them walked down the mostly abandoned street and back towards his home. "What?"

Fast as a bullet, Logan spun around and punched Naruto in the stomach. The Rider had gone back into his human form, so the blow hurt like a son of a bitch. But then, it was supposed to. "That's for draggin' my daughter into all this."

"Okay, that's fair," Naruto groaned, the wind thoroughly knocked out of him. "And yeah, let's get home. I don't wanna get another one of those from Laura."

* * *

After their little talk, Akamaru and Doreen felt closer than they ever had before. If anything, it was almost ridiculous how well suited they were for on another. After about an hours worth of stories, the two of them got back into their civilian clothes and headed for the house, expecting to finally introduce Doreen to the rest of the family.

When they arrived, they realized that wasn't going to happen tonight. Naruto, Laura and Logan were still reeling from Mephisto's visit, understandably enough, and Hinata and Kiba weren't even home yet. Hinata had wanted to apologize to each person individually, and she was starting with buying Kiba a diner just for the two of them. There here was the fact that Naruto didn't plan on telling his lovers about the situation with Laura until morning to try and give them a good night's sleep to process all the crap they were about to find out. Not a bad idea, honestly, though it did mean Akamaru would have to wait a day or two to introduce them to Doreen. Then again, maybe that was for the best. It had been a long day, for everyone.

Not that that meant it was over just yet…

* * *

"Yeah, it was good to hear from you," Naruto said, sitting down on his bed with his phone to his ear. "I kinda thought you'd never talk to me again. And Hinata really said all that? I'll be damned… Huh? Yeah, if you gotta go, then go. Talk to you soon, Ava."

Naruto hung up the phone and set it on his bedside table. Kiba was standing right behind him, getting ready for bed and listening in on the conversation. "Sounds like Hinata's really serious about making up for everything."

"I guess so. You ready to forgive her yet?"

"Almost. She made a mistake, a pretty fucking bad one, but one she admitted to and is trying to fix. Plus, I love the bitch. Can't stay mad at her forever."

She was right. Still, Naruto had his reservations, "I'm close to letting it go, I just… I don't know, I need one more little something."

Kiba nodded, "Same here… but what?"

"What if I showed you guys I can control myself now?" Hinata said, popping into the doorway. "Would you forgive me then?"

Neither of her lovers were sure what to do. The question was out there though and one of them had to answer. In the end, it was Naruto who did it, "Sure, then I guess then we could probably let this go. Did you have something in mind?"

Hinata closed the bedroom door and locked it. "You two get on that bed and make love. I'll stay right here, watch, and not do anything, not even to myself. For someone like us, that'll be damn near impossible. But if I can do it, it'll prove to you guys that I can handle the idea of sharing you with someone else."

"Seriously?" Kiba asked. "It's not an awful idea or anything, it's just kinda crazy. If Naruto's okay with it though, I guess I'll never turn down a chance to roll in the sheets with him."

"Wait, we're really doing this?" Naruto asked. After both women nodded, he shrugged. "Then let's get down to business. Kiba, stop putting on your-MPH!"

 **LEMON**

Kiba tackled Naruto to the bed, already stripped down to her bare ass. She cupped his face in her hands and massaged the inside of his mouth with her tongue, grinding onto him and ripping his clothes off as she did. Breaking the kiss, Kiba told her lover with a grin, "Come on, you of all people should know I don't sleep with my clothes on."

"It was just supposed to be a smooth line," Naruto defended himself. His shirt was gone, and Kiba was pulling down his boxers and underwear too. "Holy shit, you're really in the mood!"

"For you? Always," Kiba declared.

They were both in their birthday suits now, and Naruto couldn't help but take in the view. He'd been with her a couple dozen times now, but still, those firm C-cup mounds, the perfect pink buds, apple-bottom ass, and glistening womanhood took his breath away. She tackled him into another kiss, his tongue getting in on the action too this time. Naruto had filled on his hands with her breasts, kneading it, while his other hand latched onto her smooth backside. He gave it a small smack, making Kiba moan. When they finally parted, she fell right into her trademarked bluntness. "Time for me to kiss something else. Do me a solid and return the favor, eh?"

Kiba spun around so that she was facing Naruto's erect dick and her wet slit was in his face. She wasted no time, starting with a few small kisses up his shaft, followed by a nice slow lick, and finally taking it fully into her mouth and down her throat. It was air tight and warm as always, and she slid up and down his shaft with ease. Her blowjobs never did disappoint.

Naruto wasn't slacking on his duties either. He'd spread his lovers folds and started working his tongue inside her, attacking her clit and going to town on her pussy. They were both moaning loud enough to shake the room, and it was killing Hinata. Her knees were trembling, but still, she did nothing. Just stood where she was.

"Oh, fuck that's good," Kiba cried. "Enough with the foreplay! Let's get to it!"

Same old Kiba. Forget all the flowery stuff, it's time for main event. She spun back around and lined herself up with his dick. Neither of them had cum yet, but with them, that wasn't unusual. It took a hell of a lot longer than that for either of them to blow their load. He was inside her moments later, her slick vice grip making his eyes roll back into his head. Kiba started bouncing up and down, fogging Naruto's mind with pleasure as he grabbed her breasts.

Hinata actually bit her lip, trying to ignore the sounds of skin smacking on skin and wet flesh dancing together. All she could do was watch as Kiba and Naruto tried out every position you could think of; doggy style, reverse cowgirl, even up against the wall. It was a sight to behold, and Hinata bared it, right up until the two of them were on the bed, missionary style, and finally climaxed together.

"NARUTO!"

"KIBA!"

It had taken half an hour in total. Half an hour of hell for Hinata, but half an hour nonetheless. When they finished, Naruto and Kiba walked over to the trembling girl, her panties soaked after what she'd just watched. Kiba could hardly believe it. "I'll be damned. She didn't touch herself or anything. You were really trying hard, weren't you Hinata?"

"Y-yeah… so we're good now?"

"Um, yeah," Naruto said. "Me and Kiba are gonna go take a shower-"

Hinata jumped up and grabbed her lover's hands, pulling them towards the bathroom. "We'll shower together! Need sex! Need sex now!"

 **LEMON END**

And she would get it, plenty of it in fact. Naruto and Kiba's little way of letting Hinata know she'd been forgiven. It was a lovely night… one that we be followed by one hell of a complicated morning.


	15. Reading Between the Lines Pt 1

Here we are once again, ladies and gentlemen. Another new chapter of Uzumaki Rider. Also, thank you for helping us to reach over 400 followers, 300 favs, and nearly 100 reviews! You guys are fantastic as always. We wish we could post more frequently, I'll bet we sound like a broken record on that point, but things just refuse to slow down in our lives. Should be a fun one, given that we've got Laura's pregnancy to go over, more stuff with the mysterious woman working for Umar, and still need to check in with Akamaru and Doreen. Long story short, we're going to keep on chugging along, just like usual. That probably means we should actually get to the story, huh? Oh, and another lemon will pop up in this chapter, so be ready for it. Again, nothing plot major, so if it's not your cup of tea don't worry. Thank you all so much for reading and please be sure to review.

Chapter Soundtrack - Make It Rain (Sons of Anarchy Soundtrack): Ed Sheeran

* * *

Breakfast proved to be more than a bit awkward. How could it not be, given all the guests and news to be shared? Naruto tried to soften the blow. He made pancakes, bacon, eggs, hash browns, coffee, freshly squeezed orange juice, and even went out and got a fruit salad. A good sized breakfast, even for this group. The only result of that gave him was a table surround by full stomachs to go with the chatter.

First came the big news, Laura's pregnancy. No one said much of anything at first. They all just sat there, processing the information they'd just been given . Kiba asked the basic questions. When was the baby due? Did they know the gender? What were they going to do once it arrived? The lack of concrete answers for any of it frustrated her to no end, but at least it meant all of them were on the same page.

Hinata's questions were more in depth. She asked who all knew and what sort of difference they could expect from a half mutant, half Rider baby. The first part was easy to answer, just the people at the table and at the mansion, and the second part was something they could only find out in time. All they could say with some confidence was that the baby probably wouldn't end up being what you might call _'normal'_.

It wasn't long before Mephisto became a topic of the conversation too. No one was surprised he put such a horrific clause in his contract, and they all wanted to throttle the demon lord just as badly as Naruto, Logan, and Laura did. Hinata and Kiba checked their contracts as well and found similar clauses buried inside. They agreed something had to be done and that Johnny would be the person to ask, but there wasn't much else they could do about the matter.

Next on the docket was Akamaru's news regarding Doreen. Not much to get upset over with that bit. It was the happiest news anyone at the table had in fact. They weren't even pissed Akamaru had told her everything without asking them if he could. Kiba made a few cracks about a dog boy chasing after a literal Squirrel Girl, but otherwise the whole thing went off without a hitch.

The whole thing amounted to a hell of a breakfast, both in food and in conversation. And to think, the day had only just begun…

* * *

"Lady Umar, I know you've been waiting some time to get your hands on the Ghost Rider," The woman with the crimson hair began, kneeling before her master. It was the same woman who'd killed Satannish less than a day prior, now standing in the same crystal filled cave he'd once tried to speak to Dormammu in. With this woman, however, Umar didn't feel the need to hide her identity. All she had to do was listen, "And your patience is admirable, but this is no small task. It will take a bit of time and some help on your end. But unlike Satannish, I have a plan."

Umar had the appearance of a human, with long, dark hair, a low-cut black dress, and a air of grace and beauty that in no way suited her twisted soul. She spoke in a voice as smooth as velvet. "I'm listening, my child. Let's see if you can impress me."

"Uzumaki has a wide circle of allies, ones he would gladly die for. It's a simple matter of capturing one or two of them and setting our trap. If the trap is going to get him into the dark dimension, though, it will need to be provided by you."

"A trap provided by me will be easy to sense, and he'll be expecting the trap."

Two good points, but the crimson haired woman had already thought of them both. "I'm counting on him expecting it. Uzumaki and his allies don't know Satannish is dust. We let them think he's lying in wait for them. They'll assume the power of the Dark Dimension is emanating from him. From there, we find someone to tell them about 'Satannish's' plan. They'll be too blindsided to stop us from taking the Rider and claiming this dimension for ourselves."

A wicked grin grew on Umar's face. "My dear girl, you never cease to amaze me. I'll provide your little trap and watch as everything falls into place. If this works, your rewards will be greater than you can imagine. We'll talk soon."

"Of course, Lady Umar," The woman replied. Umar vanished and the woman was left to ponder what she'd said.

Rewards? The only thing she wanted from Umar was the truth. She'd take anything at this point, even something as basic as her name! But it wasn't that simple. Umar held all the cards, and she didn't give them up for free. So, this mysterious woman left the cave, her red hair and swaying tails following her on the way out…

* * *

No one was really sure how to start. Naruto, Hinata, Kiba, and Laura were all sitting in the living room, ready to talk about how to move forward with the news. Logan had been there too, but he still couldn't keep his mouth shut so Laura sent him to a bar and told him they would sort all this out themselves. That had been nearly twenty minutes ago.

"So…" Naruto started, tapping his finger on one arm of couch. "I guess we'd better decide whether or not you wanna keep the baby."

Laura, who was sitting in a recliner to the left of Naruto, answered in an instant. "I know what way I'm leaning, but I'm not gonna say anything until I know how you feel. You can't change my mind, but this is all still fresh for you. No bullshit, hit me with your knee-jerk reaction."

"Alright… if it was up to me, I'd say we keep it." Everyone in the room seemed to expect the answer, but they still wanted to hear Naruto's reasoning. "I grew up not knowing who my parents were and without somebody to teach me what was okay and what wasn't. There are plenty of people who get adopted and live a perfectly happy life, but I don't wanna take the chance. I think I can give this kid a good life, and more than that… I want to."

"Well, then that makes this pretty easy. I wanna keep the baby too." Laura admitted. "It's gonna be a challenge, but we can manage. This kid won't have a normal life, but it'll have parents who love it. Question is… are those parents going to be together?"

Hinata may have gotten better about this sort of thing, but she still needed to cut in. "Just so you know, me and Kiba aren't going anywhere. This whole thing is a packaged deal, period. Right, Kiba?"

It was a bit on the spot, but she wasn't wrong. "Yeah, there ain't no stopping this thing we got goin."

"I kinda figured that," Laura said, looking closely at the two women sitting next to Naruto. "And I say fuck it, we'll share him. I was only at the X-Mansion a little bit and that was all it took for me to wanna kill Jean, Cyclops, and Dad over the all that 'love-triangle' bullshit. We're already weird, why fight it?"

"Then that's two things settled," Said Naruto, chuckling. "What else do we need to talk about?"

Kiba shrugged and asked, "How about getting a bigger bed? Four people is gonna be kinda hard to fit in what we've got now."

At last, a nice laugh to break up some of the tension. For the first time since this whole debacle had started, everyone was starting to feel like things just might start to seem normal sooner or later…

They were wrong.

* * *

Akamaru loved his family. Really, he couldn't be more grateful to know all the wonderful people he did. That didn't mean he wasn't terrified about Doreen meeting them though. He had all of them, in this case that included Laura and Logan, lined up in the living room, giving them an idea of exactly what they needed to avoid.

"First of all, don't overwhelm her," Akamaru warned them. "She knows about some of this stuff, but if we try and hit her with all of it, she's gonna end up leaving just to try and make sense of all of it."

"I still think we need to get a manuel," Kiba cut in. "Between the Ghost Riders, were-things, demon baby mamas, and super friends, it's just gonna be easier if we give people a little book instead of wasting our time telling all these stories."

Not a bad idea, but not really the point as far as Akamaru was concerned. "Well until we get one, were just gonna go slow. Don't mention too much about the Hidden Leaf either. I've told her I'm from another dimension, but trying to explain all _that_ to her..."

Laura raised an eyebrow and glanced over at Naruto. "I still don't know about all shit either. You gonna write a book about that too?"

"I probably could," Naruto muttered. His expression quickly shifted from irritation to genuine curiosity, "That actually isn't a bad idea. I wonder if there's any worlds where people would be interested in a story about me."

"A question for another day. Third big thing you guys need to know about Doreen is that she's kinda sensitive about the tail. She won't snap at you or anything, but it makes her feel weird if people stare at it for too long. Being the center of attention isn't exactly her thing."

This whole spiel was starting to bore Logan to sleep. He let out a long sigh and grumbled, "For fuck's sake kid, it'll be fine. She's part squirrel! Something tells me normal isn't exactly the kinda thing she's come to expect in life."

"Point taken. Doreen texted and said she should be here with some friends in just a couple of minutes. Just, you know… don't act too crazy."

The odds of that happening weren't exactly good, but hey, how bad could it really go? Well, they were about to find out…

* * *

Everyone arrived minutes later, in this case that being Tomas, Ken, Nancy, and Tomas's girlfriend, Mary. They started with introductions, which took a decent amount of time in and ofitself, but once they were over there was a lot of fun to be had. First they all had lunch, which they kept simple and had chips and sandwiches, since there was plenty of options there and everyone could have something they liked.

From there, they moved on to stories, and it turned out Doreen's friends had just as many odd ones as Akamaru's did. Before long the whole thing turned into a competition, and a pretty damn difficult one to win at that. Akamaru managed to win it. No one could top the whole 'being turned from a dog, into a wendigo, and then into a human' thing. That being said, it was still a pretty impressive set of tales.

Where did it end? In the only place that it possibly could have of course… truth or dare.

Akamaru ended up going first, having to admit to his girlfriend that he did indeed still kick his leg if you scratched him right place. Someone then got Doreen right back by asking her if she liked nuts more than the average person… while she had a mouth full of peanuts. It went like that for a few rounds until it was Doreen's turn once again. And that's where Kiba came in...

"So Doreen," Kiba began with a small grin, "You've been seeing my little bro for what, a few weeks now?"

"Well we've known each other that long yeah, but have only really been going out for a few days." The teen replied before asking, "What does that have anything to do with my dare?"

"Simple," Kiba began, her grin growing, "Your friend Tomas over there said you've never given anybody a lap dance, and I think it's time for your first. Akamaru's got some experience on the receiving end. I'll bet he'd be a great judge if you were any good."

"Hell no!" Doreen replied instantly, slamming down her glass. "We might try that one day, but not for some stupid bet."

"So then you'll do the forfeit?" Laura asked, an eyebrow raised in question.

Oh come on! Now they were taunting her? Doreen grunted and slammed her foot into the floor. She stood up, grabbing her boyfriend by the collar. "Fine, but not here! Sweetie, which one is your bedroom?"

"Hold up!" Mary called out. Doreen found herself once again regretting bringing along a future mad scientist asked when she asked, "How are we actually going to know if she does this? Akamaru could just lie for her benefit."

"I'll make sure." Nancy volunteered, taking a sip of her drink before adding, "I'll stick around, at least until things get to hot and heavy."

Doreen silently agreed with her friend before the trio went back to Akamaru's room. Closing the door behind her, Nancy turned to see Akamaru awkwardly sitting on the edge of his bed while Doreen paced in a small line. Wanting to help her friend's through the embarrassment as quickly as possible, Nancy asked Doreen, "Hey, can I see your phone?"

"Sure," Doreen quickly replied, eager for the distraction, "but why?"

"Well," Nancy began as she opened an app, "every dance needs music."

Before anyone else could comment, a song started playing from the phone's speakers. However upon hearing 'Sometimes…something beautiful happens in this world…' Doreen immediately yelled, "No! I'm not doing this to Lonely Island, and not that song!" Nancy slightly frowned, but nodded as she made another selection, but this one wasn't any better. When the phone began playing, 'It's Brittany bitch,' Doreen quickly grabbed it, declaring, "I might have agreed to do this, but I will not be a cliché."

 **LEMON**

Shortly the phone began playing a few keyboard notes while a high voice sang, 'La la la la la', Doreen standing in front of her boyfriend, swaying her hips to the rhythm. For the first minute of so she remained dressed, but stepped closer to Akamaru, leaning deeply to show off her cleavage. When a drumbeat began and a man began singing, 'Girl I've been all over the world…looking for you…' Doreen quickly whipped off her jacket before tossing it across the room. As the song continued, the girl sat herself down on Akamaru's lap, grinding her rear into his hips, the Wendigo feeling himself beginning to get hard.

Doreen managed to feel this, and gave a soft smirk. Still keeping to the beat of the song, she slowly eased her shirt up, but stopped when Akamaru's hands came up to help. Lightly booping her boyfriend on the nose, Doreen declared, "Nope, no touching, not yet." before she left her boyfriend's lap. Taking pity, she ditched her shirt, although Akamaru smile couldn't help but lessen at seeing the plain, white bra. Seemingly knowing what Akamaru was thinking, Doreen apologized, "Sorry baby, if I'd known this would be how my day was going I would have worn something sexier. But, I think I know how to make it up to you."

Somehow keeping the beat of the song even with the interruption, Doreen unbuttoned her shorts and slowly slid down the waistband. Shortly, her tail popped out like a coiled spring. At seeing this, Nancy declared, "And I'm out." However she was ignored as she closed the door, Akamaru gently grasping the appendage and deeply inhaling the scent before noticing that Doreen had continued to pull her shorts down, revealing a white thong disappearing between her cheeks. Turning her head, she revealed, "Yeah, I wear these every day, it's just so constricting to force my tail into panties that I just stopped getting them in high school." She then turned and straddled her boyfriend, her hips grinding into his erection, before grasping the hem of his shirt and asked, "How about a trade?"

Akamaru instantly agreed, reaching around to unhook Doreen's bra. Unfortunately, his shirt covered his head just as the breasts were released, but he felt himself twitch at seeing the pair bounce slightly. Sensing now was the time for touching, the teen didn't waste time, pulling Doreen close to himself, his face being buried in his girlfriend's chest, with him eagerly taking a nipple in his mouth, sucking and biting softly on the bud. Doreen at first cried out in surprise, but quickly began to moan at feeling the sensation. Soon, however, she felt another sensation poking her.

Shoving Akamaru away slightly, and chuckling a bit at his pout, Doreen apologized as she slid down his chest, "Sorry, but it feels like this guy wants some attention." Now resting on her knees, Doreen's nimble fingers quickly unbuttoned Akamaru's jeans before she used her teeth to unzip his pants. Quickly taking a grip of her boyfriend's waistband, Doreen pulled own both his jeans and boxers to reveal Akamaru's dick, the sight causing the tailed teen to unconsciously lick her lips. Starting with a tentative lick down the side of the dick before putting the tip in her mouth. Bobbing her head, Doreen just managed to fit a bit more in her mouth, her hand working what she couldn't with her mouth.

Akamaru was thoroughly enjoying this. Yes, he'd gotten head before, and there were a few girls that were more skilled than Doreen, but none felt this great. As he rested his hand on his girlfriend's head, repressing moans of pleasure, the young man decided it wasn't fair that he was the only one being serviced. Doreen squeaked in surprise, although she was careful not to bit down, as she felt herself shifted vertically, Akamaru holding her in place. For a brief moment, he regarded the strip of white cloth in front of him before deciding he'd rather not have his girlfriend mad at him and gently pulled the triangle to the side before lapping at the folds. Now locked into a vertical 69, the two made no effort to hide their sounds of passion, Akamaru gently pushing Doreen's head to encourage her to try and take his cock a bit deeper in her mouth while she used her tail to pull him closer to her pussy. Both came nearly simultaneously as the song ended, yet the song had long since been forgotten about.

After swallowing the delicious nectar from his lover, Akamaru fell back on the mattress, enjoying the feeling of euphoria. A few moments later Doreen generally climbed off of her boyfriend, the teen growing curious as to why she was crawling further up his bed. Turning his head just slightly, Akamaru watched at Doreen laid on her stomach and ripped the elastic band of her thong, throwing the now useless cloth across the room. She then gave the other teen a lustful look, clearly showing her desires.

Not needing to be told twice, the young man quickly hobbled behind his girlfriend, rubbing himself a bit to get back to full mast. As he began to gently ease himself inside, Doreen called out, "I'm not made of glass, so stop being gentle and fuck me!" Akamaru eagerly complied, slamming his entire length into the young woman. Doreen gasp as she felt her boyfriend inside her, while not a virgin Akamaru was definitely longer and thicker than any of her previous hooks ups, or the few toys she kept for herself. Still, she was quickly able to adapt as Akamaru quickly began thrusting into her, ruining her for all other men.

As for the boy himself, he was beginning to give in fully to the lust. Already he could feel a growl beginning deep in his throat as he thrusted at a furious pace, Doreen pushing her hips back to eagerly encompass his dick with her hot hole. Finally the boy was pushed over the edge when Doreen wrapped her tail around her boyfriend, pulling him closer and deeper. Now Akamaru let loose, openly growling as his right hand worked itself under Doreen to play with her clit while his left traveled up to pinch a nipple. He also leaned forward, gently biting on the squirrel girl's neck as he claimed her, some habits remained too stubborn to break.

Lost in the lust, time became meaningless for the two. Still, all too soon for the pair Doreen let out a loud series of chirps before feeling an orgasm make her entire body twitch. Akamaru managed a few more humps before he felt Doreen close on his cock like a vice, the sensation making him shoot his sperm deep inside of her.

As the two began to get their breath back, Akamaru gently slid himself out of his lover before rolling beside her on the mattress, Doreen scooching close to rest her head on his chest. The two just enjoyed the closeness before Doreen vocalized her thoughts, "That was just…wow, you know?"

"Yeah, I know." Akamaru replied with a knowing smirk, yet that grin quickly fell as he remembered something. Smacking himself, the young man cried out, "Shit! I just came inside you, now we're going to have another Laura situation."

Akamaru was thoroughly confused when Doreen just chuckled. At seeing her lover's reaction, she explained, "I'm only fertile for a single day of the year, like a red squirrel."

Akamaru honestly didn't know how to respond to that, but figured he should have expected something given his girlfriend's extra features. Finally he asked, "So, we're good?"

"We're more than good," Doreen replied, "this year I'm not going to have to spend nearly a hundred bucks on batteries." Silence hung in the air as Akamaru tried to process that before Doreen further explained, "It's another squirrel thing, and I'd rather be broke a little than start a yearly impromptu orgy."

"Alright," Akamaru replied neutrally before trying to change the subject, "still I'm sorry. This was our first time together. You know I'm not a virgin, and I'd guessed you weren't either, but it still should have been a bit more romantic than a strip tease gone too far."

"I don't regret what happened, and I certainly enjoyed it." Doreen quickly replied, hoping to easy her boyfriend's conscious, which seemed to work.

Giving a quick peck to Doreen's nose, Akamaru stated, "Next time then, I'm taking you to some fancy restaurant to properly wine and dine you before entertaining you."

Now it was Doreen's turn to smirk, the lust returning to her eyes as she said, "Maybe not next time." Surprising Akamaru, the young woman quickly shifted her position, straddling her boyfriend as a quick hand job began to get a rise out of the teen. The white haired young man could only stare wide eyed as his lover stated, "You see, you got to lead last time. Now it's my turn." At hearing those words, the Wendigo couldn't help but gain a second wind, Doreen's smile growing at seeing the fruits of her labor before she impaled herself on the hard cock.

As he watched Doreen bounce up and down, Akamaru learned a valuable lesson, rabbits have nothing on squirrels.

* * *

Meanwhile in the living room, the game continued until the guests and hosts could no longer ignore the loud thumping and muted words. Finally, Mary asked, "Do you guys have an open guest room?" Not so subtly eyeing Tomas as she talked.

"Sorry, currently in use." Laura said with a raised hand before adding, "And considering we're eventually going to turn it into nursery there's no way _that_ is going to happen in that room."

As Mary crossed her arms and muttered a few choice curses, Kiba made a joke about her little brother finally getting some tail. Naruto and Hinata just shared a look, an unspoken promise to look into soundproofing certain rooms in the house.

* * *

Of course, there were other things to attend to as well. Eventually Naruto, Hinata, Kiba, Laura and Logan had to duck out to have a word with Johnny. If anyone was going to know what sort of options they had with the whole baby situation, it was him.

They found Johnny's home was just as impressive as he'd made it out to be that night at the bar. Being a stuntman apparently paid fairly well, well enough to get a small, fully furnished apartment building with half a dozen bedrooms, a home theater, and garage full of bikes and cars anyways.

Naruto knocked on the door, expecting at it to take at most a minute for Johnny to answer. Five minutes later, Logan was ready to bust the damn thing down. "I thought you called ahead and made sure he was here."

"I did," Naruto replied. "Maybe there was some kind of emergency?"

"Would you guys give me a fucking second? I need to answer the door." A voice called from inside the house. It sounded like Johnny. "Don't tell me how to talk in my own fucking house. I'll say whatever I damn well please while I'm under my own fucking roof!"

Yep, that was Johnny alright. He opened the door, his scowl loosening a bit when he saw it was Naruto and his friends. "Hey, kid. Sorry about the yellin', some people dropped by without warnin, somethin' you had the courtesy not to do. Come on in, I'll get your settled while I get ridda the other guys. Good to see ya, Hinata, Kiba, Logan, and I'm guessin' Laura."

Laura was the only one he hadn't met yet. Once they were inside, they found the home that was unsurprisingly decorated like an old bar, with car memorabilia, old B-movie posters, and black furniture all over the place. The living room, which is where Johnny ended up leading them, was more of the same, with the key expectation of a couple visitors Naruto really hadn't been expecting to see to today.

"Wait, Parker? What the fuck are you doing here? And who's the blonde?"

Peter and Gwen were sitting on a leather sofa, an exhausted expression on their faces. It seemed the conversation had taken a lot out of them. The blonde, as Naruto had put it, threw her head back and groaned, "Oh great, another one who's gonna use the word 'fuck' every other sentence. I don't care if you wanna curse or something, but can you at least mix it up a little?"

"First of all, fuck is a perfectly good word and I will use it how I want," Naruto replied. "And second of all, I still don't know who you are."

"Her name's Gwen. She's from another dimension where she's basically her world's spider themed vigilante. They can't seem to figure out how she got here and for some reason, they think I'm gonna be able to help em' figure it out. And I still don't know why they didn't just _go to Doctor Strange instead of bothering me!_ "

Laura looked at Gwen, then at Peter, and finally at Johnny. "I really wish I could have a drink right now…"

"I've got booze in the-"

"Nope," Hinata cut in. "She's pregnant, Johnny… with Naruto's child."

Johnny nodded, not fully understanding what she'd said. "Oh, well congratula-WAIT, WHAT?"

It was here that Logan could no longer bite his tongue, "Everybody just shut the fuck up! Can we all please sit down and explain all this stuff at one time so I don't have to listen to some answer the same questions FIVE FUCKING TIMES!"

"Hate to say it, but the man's got a point," Gwen grumbled. She stood up to stretch her legs before adding, "And don't think I didn't notice the double f-bomb in that sentence. Seriously, try out some other words. Damn, shit, I'd even take motherfucker just so it'd sound a _little_ different."

She was lucky Laura was there, or Logan might've lost his shit at that last one…

* * *

While they were busy arguing with each other on the inside, something far more threatening was watching them on the outside. It was the woman with the crimson hair, watching from the treeline, her tails swaying in the breeze. She had a notebook in her hand, along with a pen. Her eyes were good enough to see everything, even from half a football field away. Part of her powers as best she could figure.

She had tidbits written about every person she'd seen in the room. There was Hinata, the calmest person in the room, but her eyes made it apparent the wheels in her head were always turning. Kiba was, to put it mildly, a bit more aggressive, but by no means a fool. Logan was the most assertive of the bunch, as well as the most battle tested. Laura was a predator, that much was obvious from the way she scanned every person in the room with the eyes of a wolf. Johnny was loud, which threw people off from how smart he was. You didn't get as frustrated as he seemed unless you were trying to explain something you knew you were right about to someone who didn't want to listen. Given the company Johnny was in, to know more about ANYTHING than all of them took some intelligence.

A hell of a group, but not one of them made for a good kidnapping victims. The crimson haired woman could capture them, in theory, but they were around Naruto too often to get a decent shot at them. So, what other options did she have?

" _I'll have to keep following him,_ " She thought. " _I don't need a best friend, just someone he's close enough too to guarantee he'll come. Until then, Uzumaki, I'll just wait. I'll know who you are soon enough… and then who I am."_

* * *

"I'll give it to ya, that's a hell of a story," Johnny said, nodding from his lazyboy. "But, thing is, Parker, it doesn't have jack shit to do with me or anyone I know. If this girl came through a dimensional tear, it wasn't a magic one. I would've felt some kinda surge, especially if I was that close."

Peter shook his head, refusing to accept it, "It has to be magic. There's nothing I can think of that makes a tear like that just appear. The only other thing I can think of is that somebody made it-"

"And nobody in my dimension with that kind of ability has a reason to send me here," Gwen added in. "Nothing about this makes any sense."

That earned a nod from Johnny, "That much, we agree on. But it doesn't mean I can help ya."

Logan, who'd been sitting on the couch (there were only about half a dozen places to sit other than the floor, and he'd made damn sure he'd gotten one of them), had been listening patiently, waiting for his chance to pipe in. "You know there's one other big factor you guys haven't brought up yet."

"What's that?" Gwen asked.

"The cosmic side of things. How many times has some freaky ass being from outer-space popped down to Earth and used their powers to fuck with us? One of them pitted us against each other in a _war_ for crying out loud!"

That… was actually a pretty fair point, and even Peter had to admit it. "I hadn't even thought of that. Wouldn't be the first time somebody threw one of the Spiders into a different dimension. There was even one that popped here that looked like the kid from _The Social Network._ Kinda glad I never met him. Sorry, not the point. If anybody will know for sure if this a cosmic thing, it's gonna be Madame Web."

"Who?" Asked Gwen.

Peter couldn't help but laugh, "You haven't met Madame Web yet? Oh, you are in for a treat…"

"Great, now that's settled," Johnny cut in, sick and tired of listening to all this. "Can we please get back to the whole 'Naruto's about to be a father' thing?"

"We can," Answered Naruto. "But you already know everything we do. We were kinda hoping you'd be the one to fill us in."

"That ain't gonna be easy. I didn't even think it was possible for a Rider to have a child. Sure, Mephisto put stuff in the contract about it, but that jackass planned for every impossible thing you could think of. All I can figure for you guys is that Laura being a mutant has somehow means you could knock her up."

Nothing about that answer was eloquent or helpful. It really only needed to be one of those things, but it would've been nice if it had been both. Kiba threw her head back and groaned, "That's the best you've got? You'd better have a way stronger answer than that for how we get outta this fucking contract."

Johnny didn't hesitate on that one, "Easy, just find a loophole or find out if Mephisto broke the rules on his end. It's like any other contract."

"Well, not like _any_ other contract," Hinata countered.

"No, it is like _any_ other contract. There's rules you have to follow, language you can manipulate, and a higher power enforcing it."

The whole table looked at Johnny like is he was crazy. It was Logan who asked the actual question, "There's an actual authority behind all that 'deal with the devil' shit?"

"Yep, and a whole little branch in hell dedicated to making sure everybody holds up their end of the bargain. Wouldn't really be a way to enforce em' otherwise. If you guys really wanna find a way outta Mephisto's contract, heading down to the underworld and fightin' it there is the best thing you can do."

Naruto, Hinata, Kiba, and Laura all exchanged glances. Simultaneously, everyone but Kiba said, "We need to call a good lawyer."

Only once they were finished did Kiba throw in her two cents. "You know what? I think I might know one…"

* * *

Once everyone had said their goodbyes, Kiba called Matt and let him know she'd be stopping by tomorrow with some friends. Her tone was all she needed to make it clear how important it was. Matt cleared out as much time as he could and promised to give it his full attention.

Akamaru had sent everyone home by that point, even Doreen, promising they could come back soon and do the whole thing all over again. They ate some dinner after that, talked a bit more, this time about things a little more pleasant like good books and good tv shows to unwind with. It wasn't long before the sun set and yawns echoed throughout the room. One by one, the whole crew went to bed until only Naruto and Logan were left.

Naruto could hardly tell Logan was still there. He was staring through a window in his living room, watching as the skyline New York lit up and the streets bustled with life. It was almost too much for one person to take in.

"So," Logan began, breaking the silence. "You going to bed too? Gonna see if can't knock up another one of em'?"

"Can we not do that tonight? Usually I'm up for slinging some shit, but… not tonight."

Logan looked the boy over, noting how tense he seemed. "For real, Uzumaki, what's is it? My daughter's got enough to worry about without you getting all mopey on her."

"I'm fine. Just thinking about all the shit I gotta get down on top of learning how to be a dad."

Ah, that old can of worms. In this case, Wolverine had an idea of what the kid was going through, and didn't feel right letting him handle it alone. It looked like he'd be stick around awhile anyways, so it'd be best if he was ready for what was coming. Logan sighed, leaned back, and did the best he could to talk the kid down. "You're gonna be just fine. I've gone from being a soldier, to an experiment, to a teacher, and just about everything in between. If I can adapt that many times, you can pull this off."

"That's nice, but I never had a mom or a dad growing up. I saw some of the other kids with their parents when I was little, but that's not much to go off of when you've got a baby on the way."

"So you're gonna fuck up a bit. Every parent does. Lucky for you, you've got the world best safety net and the kid's already got zero chance of bein' normal. You'll be fine."

Naruto absorbed the oddly parental advice Logan was giving him. It was the first time the man's presence had given him any sort of comfort. "Thanks, man. That means a lot. And I promise, I'm gonna do everything I can to protect your daughter and grandchild."

"I know. For all the shit I give ya, Uzumaki, there's one thing I can gotta admit… you're loyal to the end. If my daughter was gonna get knocked by somebody, she could do worse than you. She could also do better, but let's not focus on that part."

With Logan, that was about the nicest thing he was ever gonna say to anybody. Naruto took what he could get and ran with it. He stood up and decided to head for his room, giving Logan a nod on the way out. "I'm gonna head off to bed, but it was good talking to ya. Seriously."

Logan hit the the hay not long after that. The whole house was out cold, and the stress they'd been building up was finally starting to dissolve some. If only that could last…

* * *

Everything was finally starting to come together. Mephisto had Naruto by the balls, and that meant he had all that brat's little friends in the exact same spot! What's more, a child who was likely to be born with an impressive set of powers would soon be Mephisto's to command. All he needed now was to find Kurama and it'd be over. Not only would he rule over all the dark corners of his dimension, he'd rule over those of Naruto's as well! The idea of it made the demon lord shiver.

He walked through the fires of the underworld with a smile on his face. The screams of agony were always music to his ears, but today, they felt extra special. Mephisto took a deep breath of the ash and red burning stone around him and began to hum to himself.

" _I've got the world on a string_

 _I'm sitting on a rainbow_

 _Got the string around my finger_

 _What a world, what a life, I'm in love_

 _I've got a song that I sing_

 _I can make the rain go_

 _Anytime I move my finger_

 _Lucky me, can't you see, I'm in love_

 _Life's a wonderful thing_

 _As long as, I hang on to the string_

 _I'd be a silly so and so_

 _If I should ever let it go"_

Was Mephisto really in love? Well, maybe with the situation he was in. He could practically see his throne from where he now stood, a throne that would be built from the bones of countless pour souls who'd come to them in their weakest moment. All Mephisto had to do now was wait…

Whether or not he'd be able to handle the things that still stood in his way? That was something everyone was eager to discover.


	16. Reading Between the Lines Pt 2

We're back! Another chapter of Uzumaki Rider has arrived, and It's gonna be a fun one. Not a ton to tell you about, just because we're basically just picking up on all the storylines we left of on last chapter, mainly with Naruto and company doing their best to figure out how they're going to defend the soon to arrive child. Mephisto's a clever bastard, so lord knows they'll need some help. Thank God Kiba knows somebody who fits the bill. Speaking of, let's get right to it. Thank you all so much for reading and be sure to review.

Chapter Soundtrack - The Stroke: Billy Squier

* * *

"You sure this guy can help us?" Naruto asked Kiba the two of them, along with Hinata and Laura, stood outside an office labeled 'Nelson and Murdock, Attorneys at Law.'

Kiba knocked on the door and took a step back before she answered her friends. "The guy's the best lawyer I know."

"He's the _only_ lawyer you know," Laura pointed out.

"Doesn't make him a bad choice."

Matt answered the door before the argument could continue, which it most certainly would have otherwise. He wore a smile on his face as he introduced himself, "Kiba, thought I recognized your voice. I don't know if I've met the rest of you, but my name's Matt Murdock. What brings you to my office?"

"Hey, Matt. How's it goin'?" Kiba shook the lawyer's hand and turned to the rest of the crew. "I was hoping you could assist my friends and I in a bit of a legal matter. We've got Naruto, who I think you might have already met."

The name triggered a small frown in Matt. "Briefly, once or twice, but never properly. Mr. Uzumaki."

Naruto shook his hand as well, "Mr. Murdock."

"Gettin' along well already," Kiba said, rolling her eyes. "And these two lovely ladies are Hinata and Laura."

"Nice to meet you," Hinata said with a nod of the head.

Laura did the same, "What she said."

"Same to you two," Matt replied. "Please, come inside. Can I get you guys anything? Coffee? Maybe some water?"

Any pleasantries were about to be stomped out by Kiba before they could even start. "The only thing we need from you is to read this contract, and the faster the better. We want this taken care of as fast humanly possible. I got a copy of it made in braille for you so you can read it. It's kinda long, but it'll be best if you read it and ask use questions along the way."

Kiba held out the contract in question, which Matt took over to his desk to sit down with. It was simple office, all wood interior and barely big enough to fit the desks in, but it seemed the residents managed. There weren't enough chairs for everyone to sit, so the group stood in front of Matt's desk instead. The lawyer could already tell this was going to be a challenge, "Asking questions _while_ I'm reading it isn't my style. I need to absorb it all once. You guys can wait if you want, but I'm telling you, it'll be awhile."

"How long is 'awhile?'" Naruto asked. "We've got some other stuff that needs to get done today. Granted, none of them more important than this, but still."

Matt had to feel how thick the contract was before he could answer, "About an hour and I should be ready to break it all down. What's the contract for, exactly?"

No one was willing to pass this up. At the same time, four voices rang out, "A deal with the Devil."

"Huh… better make it an hour and a half in that case."

* * *

An hour and half was a bit too long of a wait, so everyone but Kiba decided to duck out and wait for a call to come back. Them splitting up was fairly inconvenient for all except one individual, the crimson haired woman who'd been following them. One of them was now left alone, and that lone cohort might just be the perfect person for her to kidnap.

Of course, that all depended on how long it would be before Naruto returned, and without that vital piece of information, the crimson haired woman was hesitant to make a move. Besides, a fight with Kiba wouldn't be a quiet one, and attention was the last thing the crimson haired woman needed.

So instead, she shadowed Naruto and his friends, listening in to their conversation and praying they'd mention someone she could track down and uses for the bait. One name kept coming up over and over again… _Ava._ Naruto and Hinata were trying to fill Laura in on someone named Ava Ayala. This girl clearly meant something to Naruto, based on the affection with which her spoke of her, and the crimson haired woman had a feeling her isolation from the rest of the group could make her an easier target.

' _Ava… sweet, dear Ava,'_ The woman thought to herself. ' _I think it's time you and I were properly introduced."_

* * *

"So you slept with her then?" Laura asked. She never had been one to beat around the bush, even on a crowded New York street.

Naruto knew better than to try and lie to her. "We spent the night together a while back, which made Hinata go a little crazy, but that's all taken care of now."

"Were you gonna try and add her to the little circle you've been building up?"

A lesser man might have spit out his coffee at that. Naruto was not a lesser man. He finished his sip and answered honestly once again. "Now that you're here, I don't know. The whole idea is that we want enough people to make sure everybody's gonna be taken care of. I figured four of us would do the trick."

Hinata had been thinking about this as well, but had come to a different conclusion. "I think we're gonna need at least one more person, even with Laura here. She's doesn't have the crazy labido we do. There's no way she'll be okay with pace we've been going at."

"Pregnancy tends to make people crazy horny, so that might not be true at first, but it could end up being the case after baby comes. You guys thought about adding another dick into the equation?"

And just like that, Naruto started growling again. If Kiba was there, she'd be laughing her ass off. This time though, Hinata had to do it for her. "Okay, you're not allowed to call _me_ the jealous one anymore."

A blush made its way up Naruto's face. "I know it's stupid, but every time I picture some other guy putting his hands on you it just...ggggrrrr!"

"Holy shit, that's ridiculous." Laura snickered. "But I'll give him this, a guy would only be good for _some_ of us. A girl could help out _everybody._ "

Naruto took special note of that last bit. "Wait, you swing both ways?"

"I prefer guys over girls, but a skilled tongue works no matter who's got it."

"That could be a point against Ava then," Hinata cut in. "From what I saw, she didn't exactly seem like the kinda person who'd be into 'group projects.' But hey, I've been wrong before."

They were back on Ava again? This whole conversation was going in circles, and Naruto wasn't in the mood for it. "We can talk all day, but it won't get shit done. How about we look into Ava's situation and on the side I'll see if I can get comfortable with the idea of another guy… entering this little party."

Laura wasn't passing this up, "More like orgy, but it doesn't matter what you call it. Guys, especially one's like you, just aren't good at sharing in this kinda situation."

"I don't know what other guy has a situation like mine, so I'll just have to take your word for it," Naruto jokes. "Now come on, the cafe I was tellin' you about is right around the corner."

* * *

Gwen was about to start pulling her hair out. So many other things about this dimension were like the one she was from, why couldn't this campus be the same?

"Come on, come on," She repeated to herself. She'd been down a dozen brick hallways now and would likely drive herself mad if she had to hear feet smack on the tile floors much longer. "Dr. Parker… Dr. Parker… one of these offices has got to be for Dr. Parker!"

Odds were she should've been searching the building for hours if she hadn't run into a particular one time cannine student. "Did you say you were looking for Dr. Parker's office?"

Gwen spun around to find Akamaru, a total stranger to her, just a few steps down the hall. A little mangy looking, but he seemed friendly enough. "Yeah, I'm supposed to give him the lunch he forgot," Gwen held up the brown paper bag to confirm it. "Can you show me where his office is?

"Follow me. It's down this hallway."

Not wasting a second, Gwen followed after her godsend and matched his stride. She felt the that she at least owed the kind stranger her name, if nothing else. "My name's Gwen, by the way. Thanks for helping me out."

"Name's Akamaru, and don't mention it," Kiba replied. "You go here?"

"Maybe someday. Right now I'm just close to one of the professors." Gwen followed Kiba right up until she saw a door labeled 'Dr. Connors.' Her curiosity got the best of her. She couldn't resist seeing what the professor was like in _this_ dimension. "Hold on. I wanna pop in and say hi to an old friend real quick."

Akamaru would've asked what she meant if he'd had time, but Gwen had the door opened before he could so much as blink. She waltzed right in to find Connors, a tall, handsome man with a missing arm and short brown hair hunched over his desk. He held a vial in his hand, one filled a greenish liquid, that he inject into himself, doing his best to calm his sweaty, clammy palms.

To answer Gwen's question, who was Dr. Connors in this universe, he was one of Spiderman's closest friends and deadliest foes. A man of science who could turn into one of pure instinct on a moments notice. He was the the one and only Lizard.

He'd been fighting that side of himself for some time now. It was born of his desire to once again hold his children in both arms, and led to monsterous half human hybrid that would destroy all in its path. All of it started so innocently. Lizards can regrow their arms, with a little DNA splicing, why couldn't he? Thank God Spiderman had been there to save him and keep him human.

Thing hadn't been that easy though, at least not lately. His Lizard urges were coming back, and he'd even started to hallucinate. Which was why what he was about to see put him on edge to such a drastic degree.

"Hey, Dr. Connors, what's up?"

Dr. Connors spun around to find Gwen Stacy, a student he'd thought long dead, standing right behind him. She was holding a lunch bag, smiling that same warm smile she'd given him everyday before class, and acting as if nothing was wrong. But Connors knew better. He knew his hallucinations were getting worse, and that meant he _was_ losing control!

"Dr. Connors? Are you okay?"

"Get away from me," Connors screamed, backing into the wall behind him. "You're not real! I know it!"

Gwen stop walking towards Connors, but didn't give up on him. "It's me, Doc. It's Gwen Stacy."

"NO! Gwen is gone! GWEN IS GONE!"

Oh shit… now Gwen understood what was going on, and was kicking herself mentally for making such a massive blunder. ' _Dammit, Gwen, you're dead in this dimension,'_ She thought to herself. ' _I've gotta fix this, and fix it fast before I give this guy a stroke!'_

"I know it's confusing, but I promise this if real. If you'll just give me a chance to explain,"

Connor wasn't having any of this. "You lie! You want me to give in, but I won't! I won't… **GIVE IN!** "

The shift in his vocals were a sign of a far more sinister change. Connors whole body began to contort, a painful series of crack echoing through the room as his arm suddenly grew back! Not only that, but his skin hardened into scales, turning a deep shade of green. His nose and mouth extended out until they formed a full snout with full row of razor teeth, followed by his nails sprouting into full on set of claws. A set of red eyes and a tail at least four feet long completed the transformation. Gone was Connors, now the Lizard had control.

" **Hhhhhhhggggrrraaaggghhh!"**

The twisted roar of the beast left both Akamaru and Gwen speechless. When Akamaru did finally get the guts to speak up, he had the same first question anyone else would've. "Gwen, what the fuck did you do?"

"I don't know! None of this stuff is the same as it is in my dimension!"

Gwen threw her hands over her mouth, but the damage was done. In this case, her panic fueled slip of the tongue was going to save everyone a whole lot of time. "Wait a minute… your names Gwen, you know Dr. Parker, and you're from another dimension? Fuck me! You're that girl my sister was telling me about!"

Now the confusion had shifted its way over to Gwen. "Wait, what?"

"Don't worry about it. Just use your spider-powers to hold him off while I go and get a friend. We'll be able to handle all of this, I swear!"

He ran out of the room just the Lizard made his first lunge at Gwen. She was already reaching her bag to grab her costume. God, she needed Kiba to be right about all this. Gwen couldn't fail another Lizard, not after what happened last time. After all this time, she still hadn't forgiven herself for what happened to the Peter Parker of her dimension…

She hadn't had the heart tell the Peter she'd just met either. Not about the lonely teen who'd been tormented day in and day out, desperate to find someway to make himself unique like his best friend. Those words haunted her like no others. " _I just wanted… to special… like you."_

It was all because of _her_ that Peter tried that fucking serum… it was because of _her_ that he became a monster… and it was because of _her_ that his body gave out in the end. Gwen's powers made him want to be a hero, but instead he became a monster the world would forever associate him with, instead of the sweet teenager Gwen knew him to be.

But she wasn't going to fail this Lizard! She'd save him, and find out whatever it was Madame Web or anyone else wanted with her! Gwen was going to be the hero Peter always knew she was! "Alright, Doc! You wanna go! Then let's go!"

* * *

"You really don't have to do that," Matt told Kiba. He was in the middle of the last few pages of Naruto's contract, listening as Kiba carried a box of files over to cabinet on the other side of the room. "If you'd rather take a nap or play on your phone, I wouldn't-"

"I'm not tired and if I stare at a screen for one more second I'm gonna smash it and use the glass to slit my wrists! Either I clean up this disaster area you call an office or I go outside and beat the shit outta somebody on the street! Your call"

Matt was trying to think up a joke he could make out of all this when his partner, a chubby, blonde haired man named Foggy, let himself into the office. "Okay, so I've got good news and bad news. Good news, the landlords gonna give us another week on the rent. Bad news, we're representing his nephew on a parole hearing next week pro-bono." Foggy noticed Kiba organizing the files a split second after he'd finished speaking. "Holy shit, when did we get a new secratary?"

"We didn't. She just a restless friend. Kiba, this is Foggy. Foggy, meet Kiba."

The two of them shared a small nod before Foggy turned his attention back to Matt. "Long story short, we should be good until the bigger checks start coming in. Speaking of which-"

Matt was borderline psychic when it came to his best friend. "Not gonna happen, Foggy. She's a client."

"So what? Maybe she needs work and we've been looking to hire anyways."

"Hire what?" Kiba asked.

Foggy had to talk quick or Matt was gonna cut him off again, "A secretary. We've needed one for awhile, but never had the money to afford it. A couple good cases came are way and word of mouth spread, so now we've got some clients who'll do more than just keep the lights on around here. Since we've finally got the money, Matt seems to trust you, and you organized those files faster than I thought humanly possible, how about-"

"We can't hire clients," Matt repeated. "If we get too close to her, our ability to properly represent her in court could be compromised."

"Didn't stop us with Karen."

"Those were different circumstances."

Kiba couldn't stand to listen to them bicker for so much as another second. "Hey, jackasses! I haven't even said if I'd take the job!"

An awkward silence hung in the air. Foggy, never one to shy away when things got uncomfortable, asked the million dollar question. "Would you?"

"Maybe, if the pay was decent. We've all been thinking about getting some jobs, just to make sure we don't run out of cash while we're stayin' in New York. There's some money for us to fall back on, but we don't wanna blow it all, ya know?"

No, Foggy didn't know. Not at all in fact. Matt, however, did, so he filled in the gaps. "Kiba's got a whole group of people's she's staying with. They're… eccentric."

"Our kinda people," Foggy replied. "Doesn't Jessica need a little help at her place too? And Danny's always looking for people to help him out."

"Jessica Jones?" Kiba asked. "We know her pretty well. I think we heard about a Danny Rand too."

Foggy was ready to get on his knees and start begging. "Oh, come on Matt! They already know everybody! Tell me this isn't the perfect set up!"

It was hard to deny, it did make things easier. Matt tapped his finger on the desk, thinking. "If your friends are instead and you're telling the truth… we might be able to make some kind of arrangement."

"What Matt's trying to say is, welcome aboard." Foggy said, holding out his hand to Kiba. "We'll go out for drinks later to celebrate."

"All of us?" Naruto asked as he and the rest of the group re-entered the office. "Gonna go ahead and warn ya, we _will_ shut the bar down before the night's over."

Foggy didn't see any kind of problem with that, "Should be fun. How about we let Matt tell you what he found and then we'll all go out and have a little fun, eh?"

"Still don't know who you are or what we're celebrating, but I'm up for it." Hinata said with a shrug. "I'm hoping our new lawyer found us something to celebrate too."

Things had gotten just a bit out of hand, so Matt was more than happy to interject, "I'll need to ask you all a few questions before I'm sure, but as things stand, I've got more than enough to work with as it is."

Kiba barred her fangs, grinning. "Even though you get what we're up against?"

"A court case is a court case, no matter the playing field." Matt replied. "My grandmother always used to say the Murdock boys had a little Devil in them. Time to see I've got enough to go toe-to-toe with an actual demon."

And just like that, Foggy was lost again.

* * *

The Lizard didn't simply _look_ like an animal, he _fought_ like an animal. His predator instincts were apparent with every move he made. Gwen had tried hurling a desk at him, but his tail smacked it away before it got within three feet of him. Whenever she tried webbing him, Connor's would just grab the web and pull her towards his snapping jaws. Even when she tried firing unattached globs of web just to pin him down, the Lizard seemed to know it was coming before she did.

"Guess now I know how people feel about fighting me and my spidey-sense," Gwen mumbled, trying to figure out what she was going to do. The Lizard was already chasing after her again, his teeth bared and at the ready. "Right now would be a really good time for some backup!"

Opening his deadly maw, the Lizard was ready to try and take a bite out of Gwen. His mouth was promptly shut by string of web, only this time it wasn't from Gwen. Another spider had entered the fray, "Starting the party without me? Gotta say, that's kinda rude."

Gwen couldn't decided if she wanted to hug or strangle Peter when she saw his red and blue suit flying into the room. "Where the hell have you been? I've been fighting this thing for five minutes and I've already gone through just about every trick I've got!"

"Sorry, I knew you were here and I had to whip up a quick batch of this," Peter said, holding a vial of purple liquid in his hand. He tucked it away the second he realized the Lizard was charing at him. "It's only good for a month and he hasn't changed in so long, I just kinda forgot."

"So what you're saying is, you know what the fuck's going on and you've got a plan?" Gwen asked, firing two streams of web at the Lizard's back to try and slow him down. They were both smacked aside with his tail, but this time she didn't seem to care as much. "Alright! Way to go Parker!"

"Wait, Parker? Like Professor Parker?" Asked a female voice. Akamaru was back, not to mention in full Wendigo form, and he'd brought Doreen with him fully dressed as Squirrel Girl. Everyone seemed to have impeccable timing at that moment. "That… actually explains a lot, now that I think about it."

Peter leapt over the Lizard, making him slam into the wall behind him. It was one of the exterior walls of the building, and it looked ready to tumble after a hit like that. Peter could tell they didn't have much time. "We'll worry about explaining things later! Pin him down so we get this serum in him before-"

It was too late. Connors may have turned into a wild animal, but had retained some of his intelligence, and knew the group planned on turing him back. With a single swing of his massive tail, he took out what was left of the wall, roaring at his attackers while he did. He leapt off into the outside world before any of them could move, rushing towards an unexpecting city.

"He's not getting anywhere! I've already got his scent," Akamaru growled. He sprinted out the new whole in the building, the whole group following after him. "Let's go hunt some Lizard!"

* * *

"I really hate buying bras," Hinata grumbled. She was in the dressing room, with Laura and Kiba on either side of her, all of them trying on some clothes. None of them really had much to begin with when they got to New York, and since they had some more money coming in, it just made sense to pick some up. The money only took care part of the stress for poor Hinata though. "I thought maybe I'd get lucky and prices would be lower over here, but nope. If you've got big boobs, you're fucked and can't buy anything but the good stuff."

Kiba over in other room, trying on what could be the first sweatshirt she'd buy in this dimension. As much as she'd hated wearing those baggy clothes back in the Leaf, she did need some cold weather gear. Plus, at least now she could buy something that was actually the right size for her. She got a feel for the soft, blue fabric as she replied to Hinata, "Relax, we've got the money for it. If we can make you comfortable, let's make you comfortable. Laura, what about you? How are you doing?"

She was already walking out of the dressing room when she replied. "Good. I've got a couple more sports bras and a t-shirt I like."

"Everybody scored! Nice," Kiba exclaimed. She and Hinata followed out with their shopping bags not long after, both noticing that Laura barley even glanced at them. She wasn't being rude, it was just clear her mind was off somewhere else. "Hey, Laura? What's eating ya?"

"Nothing, I just wondering..." A light blush tinted her cheeks. "If maybe I should pick out something special for Naruto."

Hinata didn't register what she meant at first. "Maybe, but he has a lot of clothes alre-OH! You mean like lingerie or something?"

"Right. Something that'll get his attention."

That earned a shrug from Kiba, "I think you get his attention every time you walk into a room, but we can get ya something sexy if you want. Didn't really think that was your style though."

Laura's blush grew brighter. "It's not. I mean, there's nothing wrong with putting on a bunch of makeup and wearing sexy clothes, but when I wanna fuck somebody, I just tell them. Wearing a bunch of extra crap, it just makes me feel kinda… silly, I guess."

"Then why are you doing it?" Hinata asked.

"It's… well I just… maybe I should've said," Laura began, uncharacteristically flustered. "You know what? Forget it. It was a stupid idea."

Kiba wasn't letting her off that easy. "What's stupid is that you won't tell us what's wrong with you. Come on, Laura. You know you can trust us."

Yes she did. Laura folded her arms across her chest, let out a small huff, and admitted the truth. "It's not some big thing, it's just that being around you and Hinata makes me feel a little… intimidated. You both know Naruto so much better than I do, and you've been learning about sex from a normal age instead of having to figure it all out after escaping a fucking lab. All the lingerie, seduction crap is like second nature to you guys. What I walk around in is like being dressed as boy compared to you two. Not to mention you two can keep with him the labido thing, and I'm just some regular ass mutant and… I don't fucking know! I just don't wanna end up being second fiddle to his real girlfriends!"

"I can understand that," Hinata replied, to which Laura raised her eyebrow. "Think about it. You're going to be the mother of his child. You don't think me and Kiba worry that might make Naruto sway more in your direction?"

"He wouldn't do that-"

"Exactly," Kiba cut in. "And he wouldn't treat you like some side bitch either. It's not something we're ever gonna be able to not worry about, cause we're human...ish, but the thing you gotta remember is that no one here is trying to steal Naruto away from anybody else. We're happy to have you on bored, Laura, and I can't wait to be an… aunt? Co-mom? Eh, we'll figure out the name for it is later."

Now the whole group was laughing. For all the nerves Laura had about this whole situation, her new found friends seemed gifted at finding ways to calm her down. Something told her appreciation for that would only grow more over time.

"Now, with all that being said," Hinata began. "It couldn't hurt to have something special to wear for Naruto if the occasion should rise. After the baby's born, after we kick Mephisto's ass, something nice like that. I'm sure we can find you something that'll blow him away without making you feel ridiculous."

Ever the daring one, Kiba had something else in mind. "You guys can have all that frilly, romantic stuff. I'm gonna go buy a collar and do some kinky shit!"

Hinata and Laura both felt a sweatdrop forming on their heads. Laura might not of known much, but at least she didn't get the whole 'sexual repression' treatment like Kiba…

* * *

' _When I lived in LA for awhile, I thought there was no way any other place on Earth could have as much fucking traffic as they did,'_ Naruto thought to himself, looking out at the sea of cars before him. ' _But I gotta admit, New York's in the same ballpark.'_

He was standing on the sidewalk at the moment, downing his second hotdog while he waited for his friends to finish up their shopping. As far as he knew, it was the last thing they needed to do to get settled in. Hopefully they wouldn't have to move anytime soon, because Naruto sure as shit didn't like to think about what it would take to back all this crap up and ship it up somewhere else. Honestly, that was one of about a hundred things he didn't wanna think about right now.

Everytime it seemed like Naruto was getting somewhere, in his love life or in trying to get away from Mephisto, something always popped up and started complicating all of it. That was one thing when he was on his own, but now that he had a whole family to worry about, it was stressing him out enough to give him a stroke. One more little thing he just might explode on some poor stranger.

"Comin' through," A deep voice mumbled as man in an oversized trench coat bumped into Naruto. The mountain of man made him drop his lunch and is if that wasn't bad enough, he wasn't done being a dick yet. "Shouldn't be standin' in the middle of the street, jackass."

Naruto had the man by his trenchcoat in a half a second flat. He pulled the stranger towards him and didn't hold even an ounce of his anger back. "First of all, the word you were looking for is 'sorry!' Second, I was on the sidewalk, not the street you asshole with legs! Lastly, fuck you; ya saw me standing there and bumped into me anyways! Who does that?"

"Mac Gargan, ya little shit," The stranger fired back. From the corner of his eye, Naruto could see something slithering it's way out of Mac's trench coat. "And if you know what's good for ya, you'll apologize and get out of way before I fill ya with poisons ya ain't even heard of!"

His thick New York accent confirmed what Naruto had suspected. Yep, he'd met this guy before. "Really, Scorpion? That hurts. Most of the time when I kick a guy's ass, they've at least got the decency to remember it."

"A pipsqueak like you, kickin' the shit outta me? That's cute, kid. Tell ya what; since ya made me laugh, I'll let ya move outta my way instead killin' ya where ya stand."

Naruto couldn't fight off the smile on his face if he wanted to. "Allow me to refresh your memory."

Hellfire engulfed the spot where Naruto once stood, making way for the Ghost Rider. Scorpion recognized him now, making whole situation feel far less funny all of a sudden. "Oh fuck…"

"Long time no see, Gargan. Haven't run into your rude ass since the first time I came to New York and met the wall crawler. Wasn't as good at reaping souls back then, but now, I think I've got more than what it takes to send you right where you belong."

"Hold on! This ain't got nothin' to do with you," Scorpion panicked. His eyes shot over to the front door of the department store in front them. "Her! She's the one I'm after!"

Scorpion pointed at the worst possible person he could've… Laura. She and the other girls were walking out the store, bags in toe, to find the makings of a brawl before them. Laura could tell in a instant this had something do with her. "Oh for God's sake, whose after me now?"

"A lowlife whose about to get burned alive," Naruto answered, a fireball raging in his hand. "Come on, Gargan! Let's have some fun!"

The flame was on him seconds later, and Gargan couldn't jump back fast enough to escape it. Fire consumed his trench coat, but he managed to rip it off before it spread to his suit. Speaking of, the suit was technical marvel. It was in essence a set of armor, with a thin metallic coat that covered Gargan's entire body. Despite this, it was fairly light, allowing the Scorpion to move at lightning speed. A rubber like substance filled the interior, both providing comfort for Gargan and absorbing much of the impact of any attack might send his way. Last but not least, there was the all important tail, working much like long a robotic arm with a poison blade and launcher connected on the top. Everything ran back into a neural processor implanted in Gargan's brain, making it possible for him to move the suit as easily as he could his own body.

All that power, and Gargan still couldn't help but wonder if he could take the Ghost Rider in fair fight. Fortunately, fighting fair wasn't the Scorpion's MO. "You wanna have fun, Ghost Rider? Let me show you the kinda thing I think is fun!"

His deadly tail went flying in the direction of a tall woman holding an infant in her arms. No way would Naruto be able to reach her in time. The woman couldn't fathom how anything might be able to save her and her child. She closed her eyes and waited for what was coming… but when she opened her eyes, she found a miracle standing right in front of her.

"Hostages, Gargan? Really?" Hinata asked, her Ghost Rider voice echoing through the crowd that had now gathered around them. She'd only been a few feet from the woman, giving her plenty of time to transform and jump in to save the day. Hinata caught Gargan's tail in midair, and still held it now as she scolded him. "If you want yo beat people like us, you'll need something a bit smarter than that."

"I'll show you smart, bitch!"

A stream of acid shot from the tip of Gargan's tail, aimed straight at Hinata's face. In response, she merely smiled, opened her mouth, and drank in the toxic liquid the same way an average person would water. When Gargan stopped, Hinata wiped her mouth and gave him a wink. "Thanks, I was feeling a little thirsty."

"Uh-oh," Scorpion muttered, and that was before he felt a presence pop up behind him. A fairly large one at that. "What the-"

He turned to find Kiba waiting behind him full werewolf form. She didn't waste a second before cold-cocking him across the face, an act that cost Scorpion a tooth, and grabbing his tail. "If you can't play nice with your toys, we're gonna have to take em' away!"

It took some extra muscle and whole lot of strain, but Kiba manage to yank the tail off from Gargan's suit. That was only the beginning though. She lifted her arms above her head and proceeded to whip Gargan with his tail over and over again. Scorpion threw his hands over his head, trying to minimize the damage. "This can't be fuckin' happening!"

"It's happening, Gargan," Naruto screamed. "And it's not gonna end until I turn your ass to ash!"

"No way!" Laura called out, surprising everyone as she marched right up to the Scorpion. Kiba backed away, allowing Laura look him dead in the eye as she extended her claws and stabbed Gargan in the chest. She wasn't done either. "I don't want his fucker dead. In pain, maybe, but not dead. This bastard needs to march back to whoever the fuck sent you, HYDRA I'm guessing, and make one thing crystal clear. I'm not coming back. You can send fucking armies after me if you want to, but I'm not going anywhere. I've finally got a home, and some asshole in a robotic suit can't take it away from me. Do you understand me?"

Gargan nodded. "Yeah, but I can't get there until ya take those damn claws outta me."

She yanked the claws out in one swift motion. Scorpion yelped in pain, his hands pressed up against the new wound. Laura felt no sympathy for him. "You'll live. Thanks to your bosses, I know just where to hit to make things extra painful without putting you out of your misery. How do you like that?"

"Fuck you," Scorpion snapped, words he quickly regretted when he saw Laura's face. "I'm goin'! I'm goin!"

If Gargan had still had his tail, it would've been tucked between his legs and he ran out into crowd as fast as he could. The group reassembled, watching him run off with a smile on their faces. Naruto mused to the group, "Burning him would've been fun and all, but I gotta say, I think Laura made the right call."

"No doubt," Hinata agreed. "Scorpion's one of Spider-Man's villains, right? Think he'll mind us him roughing him up?"

Kiba waved off the though, "I'm sure Spidey's got better things to worry about."

Speaking of the old wall crawler. "Everybody, outta the way!"

"Giant lizard, coming through." Kiba knew that was Akamaru's wenido voice, and the one she'd heard before that was Parker himself. They weren't lying either. First came the Lizard himself, and he was soon chased after by Akamaru, Peter, Gwen, and Doreen. The crowd made way from them, stunned to see another member of Spider-Man's rouge gallery popping up so soon after Scorpion.

Hinata facepalmed and let out one hell of a groan. "You know something? I should be surprised by this. I should be shocked that things still refused to slow down. But nope, I'm num. Num from the sheer number of times we've had to put up with this shit!"

"Uh-oh, she's rambling." Kiba said, rolling her eyes.

"Because any time we try and do something kind of fun, work has to get in the way! Dammit… let's go help them stop the giant lizard thing." Hinata stormed off in the Lizard's direction. Naruto opened his mouth to reply, but his lover wasn't having any of it. "First person who tries to calm me down is getting something precious to them _burned off!"_

And just like that, everyone shut up and followed after her.

* * *

Just half a dozen miles away, things were slowly getting more complicated for the group. The crimson haired woman had managed to track down Ava with relative ease and found herself the perfect person to dangle in front of Uzumaki. Ava was skilled, that much was apparent by the way she carried herself, but didn't have the raw power needed to fight off the woman with the crimson hair.

Ava walked into her apartment expecting nothing. For the first time in her life, an opponent had managed to get the drop on her. Her apartment seemed normal, decorated with hispanic artifacts from her family along with some modern furniture. Same old white walls all around her, same old smell, and same old clock tick-ticking away. It wasn't until she heard the voice behind her that she became aware anything was even wrong. "Nice place you've got here. How about we keep things short so we don't destroy any of it, hm?"

"Holy shit!" Ava cried out, spinning to meet her attacker. She'd get only a glimpse of the woman before a hand slammed into her forehead. The crimson haired woman sent what looked like red lightning pulsing into Ava's body. It was the most painful thing she's ever experienced, including any attack she'd faced while working as the White Tiger. Her cries of pain echoed through the apartment. "Agggghhhhhhh!"

By the time she hit the ground, Ava felt half dead, but had managed to remain conscious. Her attacker leaned down beside her whispering into her ear, "Still conscious… impressive. You've got a strong will to live, girl. I'd love to see what you could've done if this had been a fair fight. Another time, perhaps. Nighty-night."

A single flick to the forehead was all it took to put Ava to sleep. The crimson haired woman had her prey, now it was time to really get the ball rolling. She snagged Ava's phone, used the helpless girl's thumb to unlock it, and got to work.

First, of course, a picture of her in this current state. The frame was nice and wide, just to make sure Naruto would get the full context. This was followed by a text message, the picture attached, the simply read 'She lives for exactly one more hour. Don't be late, Uzumaki,', followed by an address. The Ghost Rider would be headed straight for their trap in a matter of minutes. Finally, the crimson haired woman would have her identity back, and Naruto would be in Umar's wicked hands.

"Here we go, boys and girls. Let the battle for the Ghost Rider's should begin…"


	17. Royally Fucked Pt 1

Hello there everyone! Hope you're ready for another chapter of Uzumaki Rider, because it is here! We left off on a rather evil cliffhanger last chapter, and we just want you to know… we knew exactly what we were doing. On a more serious note, this chapter is going to about the most action packed as anything we've posted thus far, which is part of the reason we wanted to give it a fair amount of build up. Not to mention, it's officially been a year since we post the first chapter (yes, the realse date is intentional). Boy, how time flies. We're amazed and grateful in regards to how many people stuck with this story. We can't wait to see what you guys think of it. Thank you all so much for reading and don't forget to review!

Chapter Soundtrack - Bradley Cooper: Black Eyes

* * *

Ava could hardly think straight when she finally woke up. Her sleep had been by no means a pleasant one either. Being knocked out was bad enough on its own, but the powers the crimson haired woman had used on her left a throbbing headache behind. Still, she was able to make out most of her surroundings. Sheet metal walls, a hard cement floor, and the distinct smell of oil told her she was being kept in warehouse, one that was once used as a fishing dock based on the lingering scent of the sea. There didn't seem to be anyone else in the warehouse, but after the way the crimson haired woman had managed to get the drop on her, Ava was feeling less confident.

There wasn't much else she could say about her current situation. Her hands were chained to a steel beam in the corner of the room and her feet were bound together. Under normal circumstances, that wouldn't be an issue, but these chains were strong and she didn't have her amulet.

"Shit," Ava realized. "My amulet! It's not around my neck! It's-"

"Right here." The voice made Ava look up find the crimson haired woman perched up in the rafters, the amulet dangling from her hand. "You're already tough enough for a mortal. I think I'll hold on to this little trinket, at least until the game is done."

Damn, this bitch really was good at hiding her presence. That didn't mean Ava planned on being civil to her though. "You ever plan on telling me the rules of this game, or do you just plan on playing with me some more, puta?"

"Oh good! You're still feeling feisty." The crimson haired woman declared as she jumped down to Ava's level with ease. "I'd hate to think we'd robbed you of that. How long do you think it'll be before Naruto arrives, hm? Another ten, maybe fifteen minutes?"

Ava went through the roof. "Naruto? This whole thing is because of him? If you're gonna fucking kidnap me, the least you can do is make it about more than some guy I slept with one fucking time!"

"I can't tell if you're trying to downplay your relationship with him or if you're genuinely upset about it."

"Both," Ava admitted. "Though I've gotta admit, when people always used to ramble on about sex having consequences, I don't think this is what they mean!"

That got a hearty laugh out of her captor. "Whatever the case, this'll all be over soon. I hope you live when this all said and done. I really do…"

And just like that, she was gone. Partially evaporated into thin air. Ava was alone again, though she wouldn't be for long. If Naruto knew she was in trouble, which he must've based on the way the crimson haired woman spoke, he wouldn't waste a second getting here. She just prayed he was ready for what waited for him when he got here.

* * *

"You're sure Satannish is the one who kidnapped her?" Kiba asked, she, Hinata and Laura all calling after Naruto as he rode his motorcycle straight for the address they'd been given. He wasn't exactly leaving much time for questions, not that they could blame him. Laura rode on the back of Naruto's bike while Kiba rode with Hinata, as usual. They'd gotten about Ava's capture less than twenty minute's prior.

"Me and Dr. Strange don't always get along, but what it's about shit like this, I can trust him," Naruto reassured them. "He says some nutjob from Dark Dimension ordered Satannish to bring me in. He's not a wimp, but we've got a kick ass team here and already know we're probably walking into a trap. We've got the advantage here."

Laura was already getting nervous. "Overconfidence like that is how you end up screwing up a sure thing ya know?"

"Yes, and I also know that until I know otherwise, I wanna go ahead and believe that Laura's still alive and that we've got every chance in the world to save her!"

Hard to argue with that.

The group pulled up about a block short of the warehouse to make sure no one would see them coming. As much as Naruto wanted to go in guns blazing, he knew they were going to need a plan if they wanted to get everyone out of this thing safely. That meant it was time to turn things over to Hinata.

She worked fast, exactly as the situation called for. It didn't take long for heer to find their openings. The warehouse was covered in windows and had a massive hole in the roof. One person would survey each side, followed by naruto doubling down to take care of the roof. As soon as they had a lay of the land, Satannish would be as good as finished. That was the plan, anyways…

"First person who sees Satannish signals to the rest of us where he's at," Naruto said. The group was making their final preparations in an alley not too far from the warehouse. "You guys know what to do if figure what the trap's gonna be. Any questions?"

Kiba raised her hand, "So do we all get a kiss once we save her or is it more of a first come, first serve kinda deal?"

"Not the time for jokes, Kiba," Hinata scolded.

"Who says I'm joking?"

Naruto decided to leave it on that note. He leapt up to a nearby roof and then towards the warehouse, where he was soon followed after by his partners. They all reached their respective stake out locations less than a minute later, ready to see what nasty surprises might be waiting for them. What could they expect? Seals? Explosives? Maybe a small army of demonic creatures?

Not that they could see. The windows were filthy, sure, but you could still see clearly enough to know the place was all but empty. That didn't mean there was nothing to be afraid of though. Naruto and Hinata had both gone Ghost Rider, making it easier for them to sense whatever twisted spells could head their way. Yet, suspiciously enough, they still couldn't pick up anything. It was enough to make Hinata doubt they were even in the right place.

"Naruto, are you sure this is the address they gave you?"

"I checked three times," Naruto called back, leaping onto the roof. He looked down into the warehouse and got sight of Ava, something that made his heart skip a beat. She was still okay, but bound tightly by the look of things. "I can see her, but I still don't feel anything. What do you guys wanna do?"

Hinata didn't hesitate, "I say we wait. We need to know what we're walking into or we'll end up in chains."

"I'm with Hinata on this," Laura said.

Last but not least came Kiba's voice. "Then we're all on the same page. It's a no-go until we've got a better idea of what's going on."

Naruto would've fought them on that… if there had been any reasonable argument he could've made. Instead he was left on the roof, panicking to himself as he tried to come up with his next move. This time, however, the next move would find him. A powerful presence appear behind him, one with the unmistakable mark of the Dark Dimension. The Ghost Rider had fought more than enough of Dormammu's lakies to know what that sort of energy felt like. He turned to find a figure behind him hidden in a purple cloak, one that shined in such a way that it almost looked alive. A distorted voice echoed from inside, "At long last, the Ghost Rider stands before me. Well, one of them at least…"

"Satannish, right?" Naruto asked. He cracked his knuckles, an outlet for his rage at last standing before him. "I'm going to beat your ass so hard, your boss is gonna feel it and know better than to try this shit ever again!"

"Such anger," The cloaked figure mused. "You're going to make this easier than I thought."

"Clearly you've never seen me pissed off! Somebody get down their and free Ava. Everybody else get up here with me so we make this fucker _hurt!_ "

Laura, who was the least experienced with magical foes, decided it'd make the most sense for her to go after Ava while the others handled their new foe. She smashed the window in front of her and dove into the warehouse, signaling Kiba and Hinata to give Naruto some backup. A good plan… but one that would prove worthless.

* * *

And the Lizard wa proving quite the pain in the ass himself. Akamaru had no trouble keeping up with the speeding bastard's scent, but pinning him down was proving to be an utter nightmare. Between his claws and raw strength, webbing hadn't been that effective, and Akamaru didn't have the muscle keep him still either. They're tracked him all the way down to a park, traveling countless blocks along the way, and he was still going.

Gwen was starting to have her doubts. "You've gotta be kidding me. How'd you ever manage to beat this guy on your own?"

"He's not usually this bad," Peter replied. He landed on a nearby tree branch, watching as Akamaru, Doreen, and Gwen all passed him. They were starting to gain ground on the Lizard, if only a little. "His mutation has been manifesting itself more and more lately. Even the serum we'd been ejecting him with stopped helping. I'm worried all our tampering and injections may have caused the corrupt DNA in body to mutate somehow, becoming stronger than it was before."

"If that's the case, how do you know the serum you have now is actually gonna work?"

Peter let that questions hang in the air, mostly because he didn't have an answer to it. He instead focused on the large branch just a dozen or so feet up ahead. It gave him a creative, albeit risky, idea.

In one smooth motion, the wall crawler jetted out his arms and fired a stream of web on either side of the fallen timber, carefully placing the two streams between the Lizard. He then pulled his arms back to yanked the branch towards their prey, careful to aim for his ankles. The branch proved just big enough to trip the Lizard and plant him face down in the dirt.

"That's what I'm talking about," Gwen declared, the possibilities brewing in her mind. "If we hit him with all the web we've got and have our hairy friend hold him down, we might be able to keep him pinned down long enough for Squirrel Girl to give him the serum."

"Why do I get to be the one who puts her hand in deathtrap he calls a mouth?"

Gwen shrugged. "Would you rather be the one peeling it open?"

"You know what? Giving someone medicine is fine. I'm great at making the squirrels take their medicine. In fact, I'm _perfect_ for this job."

Everyone had a feeling she might say that.

The Lizard had barely begun pushing himself up when the first glob of web hit him, this one from Peter. It was impact webbing, designed to pack an extra punch and spread out once it hit the target. Between the two wall crawlers, the Lizard was struck with nearly two dozen globs, one after the other after other. His torso hit the ground, but he was still fighting, but the web was nearly half an inch thick by this point.

It didn't get any better once they got up close. Peter bound his the reptile's tail and feet to the ground while Gwen took care of his hands, both parties trying to get his apandages as flat as possible so that tearing wouldn't be an issue. Add to that Akamaru standing over top the Lizard, holding him down with all the strength in his body, and you got a trap even a suped-up Lizard couldn't break free from.

"Holy shit, it actually worked," Peter muttered. "Alright, I'll get the top of half of his jaw. Let's pry this baby open and see what we can do."

Peter could already see the Lizard snapping away with his stake knife sized teeth, trying to prevent what was coming. The friendly neighborhood spider played it safe, hitting the top of beast's nose with a stream of web and pulling on the jaw as hard as he could. Gwen did the same to the bottom side of the Lizard's jaw and added her strength into the mix, prying open the villain's deadly maw. "Hurry up, Squirrel Girl! We can't hold this for long!"

"I'm working on it," Dorren called up, unscrewing the cap on the vial. She hated the idea of it, but seeing as this was their only shot, Doreen got as close to the Lizards mouth as she could, her skin practically touching his teeth, before pouring the serum down his throat. "Please work! Please work! Please work!"

They waited for some change, any kind of change, but the Lizard just kept struggling. It felt like hours passed while they waited, although it was a minute at most. When the struggling started to die down, everyone couldn't help but noticed the same thing… _his body wasn't changing._

No matter how much the struggle died out, the scales and claws remained latched onto Connor's body. The convulsing stopped altogether and the Lizard's eyes closed. He didn't move a muscle, and neither did anyone else.

"He's… he's not," Gwen began, finding herself unable to finish.

No one answered. They just hoped and prayed something would change. A noise range through the silence, one that almost sounded like a growl. It soon shifted into something else though, a groan of sort, the type of groan a man gives when he's just begun waking up. Connor's eyes opened once more, only this time there was intelligence behind them. The intelligence of man who could think and speak.

"Spider-Man?" Connors asked, his voice still deep thanks to his lizard body. "What… why am I tied down? And my voice; what's happened to it? I sound like… no! NO-NO-NO!"

"It's okay, Dr. Connors," Peter said, his voice as gentle as he could make it. Everyone started ripping the webbing off from him so he could stand. "You didn't hurt anyone. You're body's getting worse, but we've still got your mind. Between you and me, I'm sure we can get back-"

"There is no back!" Connors cried. "Even if that were possible, things are only going to keep getting worse! How long is it going to be before the mutations sucks out any shred of humanity I've got left?"

None of them had an answer that, which was fine. Peter didn't consider the important question. "Dr. Connors, do you think for a second that I'm ever going to give up on you?"

"This isn't the time for-"

"Answer the question… do you think I'm ever going to give up on you?"

Connors paused. He knew the answer, he just wished he could think of way to convince his friend otherwise. "No… you're never going to give up on me."

Peter threw his arm around his mentors shoulder. "Then do us both a favor and stop beating a dead horse. We need to get back to the lab and get to work."

"Thank you, Peter," Connors said, keeping his voice low so no random citizen might hear. They'd been friends long enough for the doctor to know the truth. "You're a good friend to have in times like these…"

Speaking of friends, Akamaru had almost forgotten about his sister and the rest of his little circle of friends. They chased after the Lizard alongside the web-slinger for awhile, but turned right back around only a few minutes after catching up. Those guys wouldn't turn tail and run off like that over something small. Akamaru could already feel a knot building up in his gut over what was to come, the same kind of knot that he'd when he was a dog and all hell was about to break loose.

His instincts had not dulled over time...

* * *

The cloaked figure was beyond anything Naruto could've imagined. He could hardly managed to see it half the time, let alone fight it. Every attack in its arsenal was precise and deadly, so much so that he probably would've lost already if he hadn't had Hinata and Kiba watching his back. Bullet sized blasts of dark energy had turned most of the roof they'd been standing on to swiss cheese to the point where they probably wouldn't be able to fight on it much longer. And what of the few attacks the group had actually managed to land? Well, they'd all been swallowed up into the cloak.

To put it more bluntly, they were getting their asses kicked.

"Well this is disappointing," The figure remarked, raising its cloak to block yet another fireball. The cloak didn't move in way, and the fireball didn't collapse. It moved into the fabric and vanished like nothing had happened whatsoever. "You fight seriously against a group of supernatural beings, you assume it's going to be pretty intense. I'm not sure you three have even managed to raise my heart rate."

"You're really starting to get on my nerves, asshole!" Naruto screamed back, his mind running through everything they had left to try. For once, he didn't have some crazy idea up his sleeve, at least not one he hadn't already tried. "This bastard's tougher than I thought he'd be…"

In all fairness, bastard may not have been the right word… but only because the word bitch would've been more fitting. The woman with the crimson hair had been tucked away rather nicely under Umar's gift. It hid her appearance well enough, maintaining the illusion that she was Satannish, but it had proved one the best defenses she could ask for as well. She was running out of time though. Whether they believed she was Satannish or not, they were going to realize they didn't stand a chance and retreat before the woman with the crimson hair could complete her trap. A failure like that could lead Umar to do something… unpleasant, to say the least.

"Go on, entertain me already!" The cloaked figure cried. Hopefully a taunt would get everyone's blood boiling hot enough to make them stay.

There was only one move Naruto could think to try. It was ridiculous, even for him, but they had to try something. "If you're not a Ghost Rider, you're gonna wanna jump on one's back. Things are about to get hot."

Kiba got the message, leaping over to Hinata, who kneeled down so her lover could get a better grip. She was fair bit larger than Hinata in wolf form, but the Rider had no trouble carrying her weight. "Ready when you are."

"You want entertainment, asshole? Let's see if this keeps you busy!"

Naruto threw his hands down and latched onto the hole riddled ceiling beneath their feets. Waves of flame overtook the metal, raising the temperature to its melting point in nearly an instant. The flimsy surface gave way and the entire group was sent tumbling into the warehouse in flurry of embers. Molten metal poured down like rain, forcing Naruto and Hinata to shield Kiba with their own bodies.

No such protection was gifted to the cloaked figure. There was too much of the liquid death all around her, some of which poured its way into the few openings in her cloak. She hit the ground screaming and reaching into her garments to wipe the metal from her skin. The other's hit the ground with only slightly more grace.

"That's your big idea?' Kiba cried. "I don't know what's worse; how dumb it was or the fact that it isn't even the craziest thing you've ever done!"

"Worked, didn't it?" Naruto fired back, his eyes turning to the cloaked figure. They were upright now, but still trying to get all the metal off their skin.

The way it was moving made it possible for ever keen eyes of Hinata to get a peek at their attacker's face for the first time, and a particular detail caught her eye. "Babe, you know more about this guy than I do. Does he normally shapeshift into a woman?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "What the fuck are you talking about? Why would he…" He trailed off, a new detail burrowing its way into his mind. "Those energy blasts we've been dodging… they don't match Satannish's MO. I've never fought him head to head or anything, but I know what power from the Dark Dimension feels like. That cloak might have it, but this fucker-"

"Is amazed it took you so long to figure it out," The cloaked figure cut him off. She ripped off her hood, revealing her face, complete with the new burns on the sides of her cheeks. "But I'll give you this; that plan of yours wasn't half bad. Maybe this fight's going to be some fun after all."

Small burns had formed on her cheeks, that kind that probably stung, but would heal quickly, and heal they did. The damage undid itself so quickly Naruto and the others could actually see it happening on her face. No one expected that last attack to win the fight or anything, but they figured it'd do more than irritate her skin a little bit.

"Did… did we even hurt you?" Kiba asked. Fear was rare to hear in Kiba's voice, but it was most certainly present now.

Their foe shrugged. "It stung more than I expected it too, but you'll need more than a molten ceiling to slow me down."

Hinata leaned over to whisper to Naruto. "We need to get the hell out of here! Laura's already got Ava somewhere safe!"

"I know, but what if this bitch tries to kidnap someone else?" Naruto replied. "I don't know if we should-"

"Look, motherfucker," Kiba growled. "We love you, stubbernous and all, but you either listen to her or we'll drag you from this fight kicking and screaming!"

One last chance. That was all the crimson haired woman would have before her opportunity was taken from her. She had to spring her trap now and hope for the best. "He'll be leaving soon enough, ladies. But you won't be coming with him."

The crimson haired woman leapt towards them once again, only this time Kiba was ready. She reached down her lungs as deeply as she could and let out a roar the shook the room, one even stronger than what she'd used that night in Cottonmouth's club. It stopped their attacker in her tracks, but left the Riders unaffected just as before.

"How do you like the sound of that, bitch?" Kiba screamed. Everyone in this fight had dealt with more than enough bullshit for one day. "Hinata, rip her fucking head off."

"With pleasure." Hinata whipped her chain around the crimson haired woman's neck, its flame burning in full. She tugged on it with her might, eager to watch her foes head roll before her. "I try not to take pleasure in this sort of thing, but after what I pain in the ass _you've_ been, I think I'll make an exception."

It was all the crimson haired woman could do to make out even a single word. "Pl-please… d-d-don't…"

Naruto could already feel the relief rushing through his body. "Don't what? Kill you? Make you pay for what you did?"

"Don't… make it so easy!"

They'd let their guard down for only a split second, but that was she needed. The crimson haired woman grabbed Hinata's chain and yanked the girl towards a nearby wall. Next came Kiba, who she stood in front before Hinata had even hit the wall. One punch to the gut and Kiba was flying off into a wall herself. Now it was just Naruto and this mysterious woman.

"You guys put up a decent fight… too bad you never stood a chance."

Naruto tried to jump back, to get as far away from this bitch as he possibly could, but it was no use. She grabbed her cloaked and ripped it from her body, throwing it onto the Rider before her. It swallowed him like a black hole and vanished an instant later. His flames were gone, his presence could no longer be felt, a sense of dread overtook the room, all in the blink of an eye.

No one said a word. What could be said at a time like this? It took nearly a minute, but Kiba was the the person who found her voice first. "What… in the fuck… just happened?"

* * *

This was bad, even for Scorpion. Between being a PI and becoming a super-criminal, he'd been in his fair share of nasty situations. Nothing that could compare to this though.

The new head of HYDRA was anything but forgiving. He'd risen to the top in an instant thanks to both his incredible intelligence and, more importantly, his unstoppable power. If he was half the man Gargan had been lead to believe, explaining his failures would be a dubious proposition at best. Nonetheless, he had to try.

Gargan stood, tattered suit and tail, before a council of HYDRA's most powerful members. The room was shaped like a colosseum, a fitting place to battle for one's life, with a circular, pulpit like table separating Gargan from those he'd have to explain himself too. In back, sitting on a massive throne cast in shadow, was the head honcho himself. His body was mostly shielded by the darkness, but the outline of a massive figure and end of grey beard were ever so slightly visible. Just being in a place like this could give a man a stroke.

"So um… I guess you could say things didn't go as planned," The Scorpion began.

"Didn't go as planned?" Baron von Strucker, one of the men currently judging him, repeated. "Not only did you manage not to return with the girl, but you're suit is a complete disaster as well!"

Gargan shuffled his feet. "To be far, that wasn't the plan, so…"

"Enough, fool! All we want to hear from your worthless mouth is how the subject managed to embarrass you so fully!"

"That's the thing, boss; it wasn't just her that did this to me. The girl had a bunch friends with her, Ghost Riders and shit like that! I never stood a chance!"

A mummer ran throughout the table and a few words were exchanged among the Head of HYDRA. Strucker took a brief pause before speaking again. "That would indeed put you at a disadvantage. However, if that was the case, you should have returned to HYDRA and informed us of the development! If we had known she was traveling with the Rider again, we never would've sent you of all people after her."

"Again? You knew those asshole's were her friends?"

"Yes, and you should've too, given that investigation was once part of your job. Whatever the circumstance, Gargan, there's only one voice in here that matters in regards to your fate. The council suggest using you a test subjects for future experiments regarding your suit. As to whether or not our great leader shall take this suggestion into consideration… we'll have to wait and see, now won't we?"

Scorpion looked to the man who held his fate firmly in his grasp. Slowly, the lumbering figure raised one of his hands and motioned from Gargan to approach him. As if under mind control, the one time PI slinked over to his leader, hoping his punishment would be quick if nothing else. Once he was directly in front of the throne, a booming voice overtook the room. "You did as well as you could be expect to, given the situation. I applaud you for having the courage to return to us and admit your failure."

"I would never be stupid enough to think I could escape, sir."

"A wise realization. For it, I will grant you something I give to few men who stand where you do… a chance."

One massive finger shot forewords, striking Scorpion in the hand and knocking him out in an instant. He hit the floored a second later, his ass kicked with ease for a second time that day.

"Meeting adjourned." Their leader called. "Get someone to throw him in a cell until the time comes."

Strucker dared to speak. "Sir, what about X-23?"

"I'll find someone to capture her myself. I've got plenty of options remaining. Now… _meeting adjourned._ "

Oh, that was his 'don't make me say it a third time' voice. Only those with a death wish would dare argue with him now. The room was empty seconds later, the task at hand now left to HYDRA's highest office. There was no stopping him once he set his sights on something… and with this particular monster, the supernatural heroes weren't going to know what hit them.

* * *

"There's got to be something we missed," Hinata repeated to herself. She sat at her kitchen table, shaking in a mixture of fear and rage. "That bitch had to of left a trace or a clue or-"

Kiba put her arm around her lover to silence her. "Dr. Strange is on his way, Hinata. Until he gets here, there's nothing we can-"

"Bullshit! Naruto could be dead by the time it takes him to get here! We can't sit around and wait-"

Now Laura jumped into the fray as well. "Hey! Some of us don't want to think like that! And without Strange's research, we don't have a fucking thing to work off of!"

Hinata slammed her hand on the table. "I won't lose him again, I won't wait for anyone, and I sure as hell won't stand for getting interrupted again!"

"No one feels more guilty in all this than I do," Ava, sitting on the other side of the table from the rest of the women, told them. "And even I can see not knowing what we were dealing with was half the problem here. If we rush, we'll be dead and then no one can save him. We need to wait for Strange."

Akamaru leaned against a nearby wall, listening to it all. It was going to be too much for him soon, so he'd say his piece now. "Were a bunch a' blind jackasses in a strange new world. Last thing we need to do is dive head first into a glass house."

"Couldn't have said it better myself." Called the voice of Doctor Strange, entering the room in full Sorcerer Supreme garb. "Well, I could've, but I won't. Instead you're going to take me to the exact place where Naruto was taken, and on the way, you're going to give me every last detail of what happened. Understood?"

"Understood?" Hinata echoed, jumping out her chair. "I _understand_ that Naruto's in danger! I _understand_ that he could be dead before we get there! I _understand_ -"

Dr. Strange already had a problem with what he heard. "No way he's dead yet. Based on the research I did, Umar's plan is going take a minimum of a few days. Not saying we should take our time, but we do have a cushion. That make you feel any better?"

A quiet overtook the room. It took a couple of seconds for Hinata to find her voice. "A little…"

"Good. Then take to me where it happened and fill me in on the way. If we do this right, we have a real shot at getting him back safe. Any questions?"

"You talk like you know what Umar's gonna do," Laura cut in. "Is that the case?"

An answer like that required a careful hand. "Some details are clear, others not so much. Umar needs to get Naruto to submit to her in some way, but it gets vague from there. No matter what way you slice, she'd need a couple of days to break the kid down, and that's on the low end. Knowing Naruto, it could be longer than that. That being said, I think we'd all rather have him here than stuck with that crazy bitch."

"When the man's right, he's right." Kiba said, already geared up for what was to come. "I don't know who this bitch is, but she's about to find out exactly who she just decided to fuck with. Go time, everybody!"

* * *

Naruto didn't have any idea where he was when he woke up. That wasn't only referring to where he was in his world, but in which world he was in to begin with. He seemed to be in some sort of castle, but it was unlike anything he'd seen before. The bricks were purple, even glowing a bit. There was an otherworldly quality to the decor as well, with symbols and shapes to it all the Naruto couldn't make heads or tails of, but he did know that they made him uncomfortable.

He was bound in green fabric by his ankles and wrists to a headboard. That same fabric covered the bed he was sprawled out on. Speaking of which, it was when Naruto looked down at his bedding that he realized he was almost naked. Only his boxers were left, which might have confused him more than anything else.

"Being brought to a new dimension, that I can get. Being tied down, I can get that too. The mostly naked part… yeah, don't know what to make of that."

"You will." That came from a new voice, a sultry one. Whether it was naturally that way or she was putting on an act, Naruto could say. The owner of said voice walked, borderline swayed, into the room. Between how low cut the dress was and how tightly she wore it, Naruto could practically make out everything about her. "Staring already, Ghost Rider?"

Yes he was, but not exactly in the way she was thinking. "I know women like to feel sexy, but you're taking that too a bit of an extreme. Might be more effective if you leave something to the imagination. You do you, though. If this is what you wanna wear though, who am I to judge?"

"A sense of humour?" Umar replied, reaching her captive. She ran her finger along his abs, biting her lower lip as she did. "Not a bad quality in a man. You're more attractive than I thought as well. Glad to see I might actually enjoy this."

Naruto was starting to get the idea, for better or for worse. "Woah, let's be reasonable now! You're an attractive woman; I'm sure you can get satisfied without taking advantage of me!"

A hearty chuckle escaped Umar's throat. "Oh, you really are funny. My boy, I won't be taking advantage of anyone. You and I will be joined as one _willingly._ "

"I know I said you were attractive, but I'm already in a relationship, crazy as it can get at times."

"It won't be a relationship either. What you and I are going to share will be a single night, one purely for the purposes of the ritual."

"Everytime you open your mouth, you act like you're going to explain something, but you somehow manage to make things more confusing."

The woman with the crimson hair had been standing in the doorway for all this, and she was done listening to the banter. "Lady Umar wants access to Mephisto's power. She has a ritual that can accomplish that, but the final steps requires her to, and I quote, 'have the complete carnal submission of an empowered general in the army of her enemy.' In less elegant terms, she needs to fuck your brains out in order to create a connection between her and the underworld because sex is the ultimate entwining of two souls. Oh, and you have to be willing, otherwise it won't truly be an act of total submission."

Naruto's eyes were wide as could be. "That's fucking insane! You think I'm willing gonna sleep with this bitch just so she can take over the underworld?"

"You won't have a choice," Umar cut in, still caressing her prey. "There's a reason I picked a Rider, Uzumaki. You have something… unique, about your physicality. All I have to do is it give it a few days and let your biology take over. Just think of the _pain_ you'll be in, how you'll _shake_ and _scream._ Imagine if I wait a _week._ You'll pray for death, and more importantly, for _release._ You'll be willing, boy. More than willing. The time will come when you'll beg for me, and I'll give you a night the neither of us will ever forget. I promise you that much."

In a flash, Umar grabbed Naruto hair and yanked his head back. When he yelped out in pain, Umar took her chance and slammed her mouth against Naruto's, attack his tongue with hers. Her purple lips sucked on his own, giving them a nibble as she pulled away. Naruto was bleeding by the end of it, the least pleasurable kiss he'd ever had. He would've bit her tongue if there'd been enough time. "Get off me! I don't care how bad it gets! I'll never fuck you!"

Umar shrugged and turned to leave the room. "We'll see, stud. Goodnight."

"Hold up." The crimson haired woman stood in the doorway, blocking Umar's path. "I got him here. Now tell me who I am."

"Ah yes, our bargain. It's not technically complete until Mephisto's domain is mine… but I suppose you've earned a little something. Your name's a good place to start."

Her name? That just might've been what she wanted most. Imagine trying to live your whole life without even knowing what to call yourself? Leaning in to her pawn's ear, Umar uttered a single word, one that was just loud enough for Naruto to hear. "...Kuruma."

"Kuruma," The woman repeated. "That's right… I remember that. My name's Kuruma."

She was elated, but Naruto was utterly terrified. Suddenly things started to stick out to him about the stranger who'd kidnapped him. Her crimson hair, a set of tails flowing behind her, and… were those _whisker_ marks on her cheeks? Naruto's luck always had been impressively bad. His whole world slowed down as it the picture became clear.

"Kidnapped." He whispered to himself, "I'm fucking kidnapped, and now I find her? Not only that, but it looks like her memory's gone too. For the love of…"

He trailed off, mostly due to his mind all but shutting down from sheer shock. Not only did Umar have him chained down, but she had the Kyuubi herself as an unwitting servant. Mephisto had been right to be afraid. If anything, it was worse than he could've imagined.

' _Can anyone get to me?'_ Naruto thought to himself. ' _I know they'll be trying, but will that matter? Maybe I can make Kuruma remember who I am or hold off Umar? Maybe I can break free? But then how would get out of this world?"_

If Naruto could've answered any of the questions, it would've all seemed fine… but it didn't seem fine. As a matter-a-fact, it all seemed completely and royally _fucked..._


	18. Royally Fucked Pt 2

Time for a cliffhanger resolutions, ladies and gentlemen. Yes, it was mean to have two of them in a row, but we didn't have much of a choice. It was the direction Uzumaki Rider was headed in and we had to cut it off somewhere. This chapter is off course going to pick up were the previous one left off, in particular with Dr. Strange's investigation into all of this. Nothing you all probably didn't expect, so we may as well jump into it. Thank all of you so much for reading and please be sure to review.

REST IN PEACE TO THE GREAT STAN LEE: His work inspired the creativity of countless people, the ones writing this fanfic obviously included. He lived 95 years on this Earth, and managed to leave behind a footprint few could compare to. We just wanted to thank him briefly for everything he did for millions all over the globe.

Hey, so I'm acw28. I'm usually the silent partner in this story, mainly doing behind the scenes stuff such as editing and keeping all the plot lines straight while coming up with more crazy ideas, but as Tobi said the world recently lost someone great and I felt the need to speak up. I don't think it's an understatement to say that Stan Lee inspired millions, myself included. Some of my earliest memories are of watching the 90s Spider-Man cartoon, and being utterly confused about the episode set in the "real world" and questioning who the old guy Spidey was swinging around with. One of the first cartoons I made the effort to watch, instead of randomly finding it through channel surfing, was X-Men: Evolution. One of the first movies non-animated movies I was excited to see was the first X-Men film. Stan Lee's characters helped to shape my childhood, and if I hadn't enjoyed those stories so much I wouldn't be spending time to make my own. Anyone who knows me in real life knows I'm not particularly religious, but I hope that Stan the man is somewhere enjoying his time with his wife and old friends, able to see all the tributes and thanks to him from all the people that he inspired. May he rest in peace.

Chapter Soundtrack - Alone Together: Fall Out Boy

* * *

Dr. Strange could feel the hairs on back of his neck stand as he entered the warehouse. The dark presence that had once been there was long gone, but it's power still radiated from every inch of the room. This was like nothing Strange had ever come across before, at least in this dimension. He turned to the supernatural heroes behind him, hoping one of them might have some idea of what happened here. "The woman who kidnapped Naruto… any of you have the slightest idea who she might've been? I'll take anything you've got."

"She wasn't from the Dark Dimension." Kiba replied with a shrug. "Does that help?"

"I suspected as much, but at least it's confirmed now. And you only saw her face and bit of her hands?"

Hinata took that one, "The cloak covered most of her. Even when she threw it off, we were still reeling and she was gone less than a second later. Maybe you could figure out something from that cloak she had?"

It took a noticeably long time for Strange to answer. "What you're talking about sounds like a contained dimensional tear. It's incredibly powerful magic, the kind few people could wield. Umar was the only person who could've helped this woman get ahold of one, and seeing as she's still trapped, she must've had help. Not a whole lot of beings out there who fit the bill."

"Isn't that good?" Laura asked. "We got this shit narrowed down and you sound like someone just ran over your puppy."

"Because the options I've got left are all complicated and dangerous. That being said, I think I know which one's going to be the safest."

Ava was starting to feel hope for the first time in past 24 hours. "Then why are you explaining instead of showing us what it is?"

"First thing's first. I need to know if any of you are still loyal to Mephisto before I show you networks we sorcerers have worked so hard to set up."

Akamaru snorted his answer. "We don't even like hearing that bastard's name, let alone working for him. Show us whatever the hell you want and tell Mephisto to go shove it up his ass. Not like he's got much control over us anymore."

That last bit was a little misleading, but also enough to convince Strange they could witness the world he'd sworn to protect so long ago. "Good answer. Just follow my lead, and everything is going to be fine… probably."

* * *

Where was Naruto supposed to start? He was alone in this bed, no one to turn to but Kurama, who was supposed to be guarding him. She was his only hope for getting the fuck out of here, but how in the hell was he gonna convince her of who he was? Say that he managed that. Would she be happy to see him, considering she used to be a prisoner inside his fucking body, or would the need to get away from Umar unite them enough to get past that? None of these questions would be easy to answer, but they made for something to think about while Naruto stared at the woman sitting across from him..

And that staring didn't go unnoticed. "Do you have any idea how disconcerting it is to have a set of eyes locked on you like this?"

"Sorry." Naruto replied. "Don't have much else to look at around here."

"Well, find something. Umar doesn't need your eyes for the ritual and I'm more than happy to solved the problem myself."

"I'll do that, just… tell me something first."

Kurama's voice got lower. "Does this sound like a fucking negotiation to you?"

"How did you end up working for Umar? Your power and hers aren't from the same place, not by a long shot."

He left out the part where he knew where her powers came from, but they would get to that once he had a bit more information. If only Kurama seemed keen on giving it. "Umar doesn't need your tongue either."

"I'm serious. You answer my question, and I'll shut up and look somewhere else. What've you got to lose?"

Silence filled the room. Kurama paused as if genuinely considering it. After a few second, she stood up and walked over to Naruto, raising up a single hand. A sizzling sound echoed in the room as she raised up a single hand, revealing nails that were white hot and long as knives. "The better question is, Uzumaki… what've _you_ got that I can _take_."

"Flaming fingernails? Okay, that's a new one… I'll just go ahead and rest my eyes for awhile."

"A wise decision."

Naruto laid his head back on the pillow as Kurama returned to her chair. There had to be some kind of way to get to her, he was just drawing a complete blank. Tip toeing around the issue didn't seem to be working… maybe a more blunt approach?

"And for the record, I was asking all that shit because I knew someone named Kurama where I'm from."

A deafening silence filled the room, something that could've been a really good sign or a really bad one. Kurama took her sweet time in revealing which one it would be.

She locked eyes with Naruto, the first time their gazes had ever really met, and asked him, "Aren't you from another dimension?"

"Yep."

Kurama narrowed her eyes, reading every twitch of Naruto's face. "And what was this other Kurama like?"

"I didn't know her as well as I would've liked to. She had a bad reputation, but given the circumstances, I'm not sure how much of it you could really put on her."

"And was she powerful?"

"Stronger than just about anyone I know of."

Kurama leaned forward. "And I should give a fuck because?"

A simple shrug was all Naruto would give her. A deep scowl grew on her face, making the teasing that much more enjoyable. "You're the one who wanted to know more about her."

"And I shouldn't have bothered with your lies."

"Look into my eyes, Kurama. You really think I'm lying?"

She didn't need to look anywhere. Much like Murdock, Kurama could hear heartbeats on top of her knack for reading facial expressions. If Naruto was lying, he was doing an insanely good job of it. But what did all mean for Kurama? Was she from the same dimension as the Rider? Was her name a common one across the many worlds Umar had spoke of? Could Umar herself be trusted?

Naruto had achieved his goal, if only slightly. He was in Kurama's head now, and if he could stay there long enough, he just might be able to find a way out of this nightmare. But that was up to Kurama, now wasn't it?

* * *

"My my, another visit from my old friend. To what do I owe the pleasure, Strange?" Mordo asked his one time companion.

They weren't in a coffee house for this meeting. Mordo resided in an ancient place, a stone house that had been carved out of a cave in France too long ago to remember. The elegant wooden furniture were the newest things he had, and those were at least a couple centuries old. If nothing else, Mordo had taste.

"We've got some questions for you," Strange replied. He found himself in an old armchair, sitting across from Mordo's massive oak desk. Even with all the stone around them, the wood gave the place a warm feeling, one that didn't extend to the sorcerer. "I know you cut off ties with the Dark Dimension. We need you to tell us how you made those ties to begin with and how we might be able to get inside."

Mordo looked first at his old friend, then at the group of strays behind him. "You all want a way inside the Dark Dimension?"

Everyone answered at once. "Yes."

"Hm… for what, exactly?"

They'd been told to let Strange do the talking, so that's what they did. "The Rider's been trapped there, but we've got time to get him out. Assuming we can find a way in, we plan to rescue him before Umar completes her ritual."

"Umar?"

"Turns out Dormammu's sister was tired of playing nice. She had one of her minions send the Rider to the Dark Dimension through some kind of one way portal. Can't really track him through that, so, here we are."

Mordo nodded, processing all of this. "Sounds to me like Umar might be in control soon. Betraying her trust may not be in my best interest."

"She doesn't care about your interests, Mordo. Now do us both a favor and answer the question so we can clean up this mess."

"Still as blunt as ever, Doctor. Must be the New York coming out in you." Mordo smiled and leaned back in his chair. "There's a number of ways into the Dark Dimension, many of which are time sensitive. I can give you some texts from my personal collection that should tell you were to look. From there, it's out of my hands."

Strange stood up, gesturing for Mordo to lead the way. "It'll do. Thank you, Mordo."

"Happy to be of service." Mordo replied before pushing himself from his chair. The strays continued to stare at him. "No thank you from the peanut gallery?"

"Thank you," All of them said at once.

Only Kiba felt the need to add at the end, "Jackass."

Mordo turned his gaze the young woman, grinning at her. "Keep that attitude strong, girl. You'll need where you're going…"

* * *

It had taken Naruto being tied down to a bed nothing to look at but Kurama for him to really think about her for the first time. He'd had her sealed in his belly for over a decade, though he'd admit he only new about for roughly a year, and at no point did he think of her as anything other than a monster. She'd destroyed his life and made the entire village hate him. Why should he have spared a thought for her?

But then, none of that had been her choice. Kurama was just as much a victim in this as Naruto was. He'd only met her a hand full of times, and yet he'd never asked her name, never even bothered to find out she was a woman for that matter. Seeing as he was closer to her than anyone, it was safe to assume no one else had bothered to find out anything about her in all that time either. Hell, who was the last person to ask her name?

Naruto couldn't let it go on seeing her as a means to an end like every other bastard she knew did. If he wanted her help, maybe the best way to get it was to finally start taking Kurama into account.

"Random questions," Naruto blurted out, almost startling Kurama. "What do you hope you are?"

It was such a strange question that Kurama couldn't even bring herself to get upset with her captive. "Honestly… I should expect questions this ridiculous from you by now."

"I'm serious. What do you wanna be? Something that helps people, like angel? Maybe a crazy ass demon? What're you rooting for?"

"I am what I am. Hoping for any one outcome would be pointless."

"Maybe. But who knows, maybe what you say will help you figure out who you were."

"That's asinine."

"Please, I've got nothing but time on my hands. I'm honestly criously."

Kurama stared at this bizzare man, signs of deceptions still absent from his face. She felt so much like she knew him, almost respected him in a way. It drove her just crazy enough to let this conversation carry on. "Fine. I can't say for certain, but… I think I was meant to be some sort of protector."

Far from the answer Naruto had expect. "Huh, how come?"

"You've seen what I can do. Everything about me seems designed for battle. I thought I might be a hunter or a weapon, but… I can't explain it. I don't have a desire to kill anything. Part of me loves a good challenge, but actually killing something doesn't hold much appeal to me. I'm not against it either, but there's a difference."

Naruto nodded. It almost surprised him, but the more he thought about it, the more sense it made. The Hidden Leaf and other villages had turned these creatures into weapons, but that didn't mean they were born that way. No one knew what the Tailed Beasts were made for originally. Kurama could've been right for all they knew.

"For what it's worth," Naruto began, "With a set of powers like that… I think you'd make a really good protector."

If Naruto didn't know any better, he would've sworn he saw a blush building on Kurama's cheeks. "Thank you. I should go and update Umar. She wanted to know if you were getting any worse. She won't like that you haven't."

The Rider simply shrugged. "Sorry if I'm not exactly upset about that."

"Something tells me you've got a knack for making things difficult," Kurama grumbled as she walked off.

She wasn't wrong.

* * *

"Okay… that shouldn't be too hard to find… I'll need a couple days to prepare that, but it shouldn't be a problem…"

Dr. Strange was mumbling to himself at the Rider's kitchen table, his supernatural friends watching from afar. Most of them rubbing their temples, hoping to God he'd be done reading all Mordo's bullshit soon. The longer Strange read, the more complicated that meant things were, and more unlikely it seemed they'd be able to rescue Naruto.

A few more minutes pass and Strange stood up. The entire group was on him in a second, speaking in unison. "Well?!"

"...I was just getting some more coffee," Strange answered, grabbing his mug off the table. "Also, you guys really need to start talking one at a time. The all at once thing is giving me a 'we are legion' sort of vibe."

"Just tell us whether or not we can do this," Akamaru demanded.

Hinata came next. "If you don't, I swear to God I'll rip off your fucking balls!"

"Which I will then shove down your throat," Kiba added.

"I'll kick you in stomach so hard you'll spit em out," Laura growled.

Last, but not least, came Ava. "¡Y los empujaré hacia abajo!"

Dr. Strange was by the counter and pouring his coffee by this point. "Huh… I was wrong, going one at a time made it worse."

"Just tell us what you know!" They cried in unison once more.

"Getting to the Dark Dimension shouldn't be a problem. The ritual to do it takes time, so we won't have long once we get there, but I can have it ready in a couple of days. You guys are the real problem."

Hinata, calmed by his more business like demeanor, didn't take much offense. "How so?"

"You're all supernatural, sure, but you have no idea what we're dealing with once we get over there. It's a whole new world with a whole new set of rules that I don't have time to teach you. But, I also can't do this alone. Right now, I'm leaning towards calling Tony Stark and leaving this to the Avengers."

"No fucking way," Kiba cried. "This is our friend, we're gonna be the ones to save him!"

This really was a predictable group of fuck-ups. "You'd do me more harm than good on the other side. Umar and what's she's trying to do is more than a big enough problem to call in heavy hitters. It's going to be a pain, but I'm sidelining you for this one."

Laura stepped forward with her arms folded over her chest. "You can try, but you won't be able to stop us."

"Please, don't make this harder than it has to be-"

"Fuck you," Akamaru snapped. His fangs were as prominent as they could get in his human form. "What makes you think the Avengers are gonna be any better off than we are?"

Strange had to choose his words carefully here. "You guys are strong, that's just a fact, but…"

He wasn't hearing them properly; something Hinata was happy to correct. "This isn't just about strength. We specialize in the supernatural and know Naruto better than anyone out there. You're going to throw it in our face that we got our asses kicked by the bitch who took him, right? But we don't need to beat her, just hold her off long enough to get Naruto. Me, Kiba and Naruto alone kept her busy, so all of us together should be able to do the same. A couple people head off for the rescue and we're good to go."

"Not bad points, but you're forgetting that Umar's got an entire army over there, and the Dark Dimension is where she's at her strongest. This is a stealth mission, and you're powers make you stick out like a sore thumb. A small team of people whose power signatures we can hide would be ideal."

Laura fought the urge to extender her claws. "What makes you think you can stop us from going? One way or another, we're gonna stick on your ass and head over when you do, so ya might as well just fucking teach us what we need to do so we don't fuck the whole thing up."

"You're really going to put the entire world at risk because you can't let someone else take care of this?" Strange asked with enough bite to shut them all up. "I understand this is someone you love, but that's exactly why you can't be the ones to go in. You're too irrational and the stakes are too high. Be reasonable and let me do what I do best. Oh, and for the record, if I don't want you to find me, you won't find me. Case and point-"

A bright flashes blinded everyone but Strange. He was gone by the time it cleared, much to Hinata's anger. "That son of a bitch! I swear, when I find him, I'm shoving a fireball so far up his ass he'll be throwing up coals!"

Hinata stormed off, Kiba casing right after her. "Where are you going?"

"To call Johnny! If anybody knows how to fix this, it'll be him."

"Hinata, hold on," Kiba said, grabbing her lover's wrist. She forced Hinata to spin around and face her. "Maybe Strange has a point. This is about more than just us."

That may have been true, but it wasn't what Hinata needed to hear. "I can't do nothing again, Kiba. I knew he was going after Sasuke five fucking years ago and look what happened! I won't let things end that way again."

"I'm right there with you, Hinata, but the best thing we can do for Naruto right now is stay out of it. If we find out otherwise, I'm going to be right there with you, doing everything we can to protect him. Hell, call Johnny, see if there's anything we can do from here. Strange though-"

"We need to leave him alone," Hinata finished. "I can deal with that. What I can't deal with is sitting on my fucking hands. I'll be crazy until we get our fucking man back!"

Kiba smiled, pulling her wife into a hug. "I married you for better or or worse, babe. I'm down with whatever kinda crazy you need to shell out."

The warmth of the moment flowed through the entire room… until Ava couldn't take it any longer. "Wait, you two are married? But you both still end up fucking _my_ man?"

"You know, now might be a good time to fill her in on some of this stuff…"

* * *

True entertainment was hard to come by in HYDRA. The constant training, research, and missions left little time for any creature comforts for that matter. On some days, however, the clouds of boredom would make way for a red sky that rained blood down from the heavens for the amusement of all the organizations loyal members. Today was one such day, as every set of eyes found a screen on which to watch the carnage that was about to unfold.

When the head of HYDRA said he would give Gargan a chance, he'd meant it. That chance would be a battle to the death in a ritual that the organization had been partaking since its inception. HYDRA believed only the strong should survive, and as a reminder of that very fact, a member who'd showed his bravery and loyalty even in the face of failure would be allowed to prove that his life still had value. The person he fought would put their life on the line for a chance to rise several ranks within the organization. One head would be removed so that another might rise.

Gargan's opponent was a woman by the name off Carmilla Black. Few people knew her by anything other than reputation. She'd become one of HYDRA's top assassin's over the past year and a half and now seeked something more. Carmilla wanted to expand her powers through experimentation, the kind the HYDRA would only allow it's most worthy members to undergo. If she killed Gargan today, she'd get exactly what she wanted. Her motivations for any of this was unclear, but her foe did know one thing.

"I am so fuckin' screwed," Gargan said to himself. He was in a holding cell the size of a broom closet, nothing but metal walls all around him. When the door before him opened, it would lead into a small arena, about thirty-five feet in diameter with a similar décor... and that'd be it. Carmilla would be upon him. "This bitch has been droppin' assholes left and right; guys I wouldn't even fight drunk. How in the fuck am I supposed to-"

His question was interrupted by the door sliding open. Gargan's heart sunk down to his stomach when he saw the figure on the other side of the arena. Carmilla was medium height with dark green hair and piercing eyes the same color. The lower half of her face was covered by a thin mask. She wore standard HYDRA body armor, though hers was noticeably thinner to allow greater flexibility.

Gargan looked at her and then down at his own busted armor. His best course of actions may have been to make peace with God and hope it was quick and painless.

"The weak must fall, so that the strong may rise," an announcer cried from the intercom. "Show us why your life has value. FIGHT!"

"Can we take a second to talk about this?" Gargan asked.

Carmilla answered by lunging at her foe, closing the gap between them in matter of seconds. She slid down and struck the Scorpion's legs, knocking him down as her first blow. Her left arm came up, but Gargan got lucky and saw it just in time to roll out of the way. It was almost enough to make him feel accomplished, until Carmilla leapt into the air and jumped onto the Scorpion, slamming her heel into his stomach on the way down.

With the wind knocked out of him, Gargan was too stunned to stop Carmilla from reaching down and grabbing the breastplates of his armor. She pulled them in opposite directions until the metal in her hands crack and sparked enough to finally give way. The plates broke off and Carmilla quickly tossed them aside, ready to move in for the killing blow.

"Hold on," Gargan pleaded. "You won! I forfeit! Just let me get the fuck outta here and ya can have the suit! You can have my fuckin' mother for all I care! Just let me go."

For half a second, doubt seemed to flash in Carmilla's eyes. It was gone by the time her left hand raised into the air once more, a new, green glow present. One fluid motion was all it took to break into his chest. Gargan struggled for the briefest moment, then went completely limp. The battle was short, so short that HYDRA and its agents were almost disappointed. Yet, the viciousness with which this woman struck and beauty of her brutality was a sight to behold. Quality over quantity in its purest form.

"You've done exceptionally, Carmilla." The deep voice of their leader boomed over the intercom. "I believe you shall do this organization's proud. Do you have anything to say in your moment of triumph?"

Carmilla pulled her blood soaked arm from Gargan's lifeless chest. She took a deep breath before addressing the crowd. "It's more of a request, sir. I'd like to take what's left of Gargan's suit and use it whatever experiment HYDRA sees fit to use me for. I was going to wait longer before taking on a challenge such as this, but this suit… it calls to me."

"For obvious reasons," The intercom boomed back. Her arm still glowed the same shade of green as her hair. "Your request will be granted. Great potential remains in the suit, potential that you are correct in assuming is all too fitting for you. Gargan was obsolete, and you are a fitting replacement. Our best researcher should be returning soon. You'll begin your experiments as soon as he arrives."

Her risks would be bountifully rewards it seemed. Carmilla's journey had only just begun, and this suit was but a part of it. She'd taken her first steps though, and that was enough for today. HYDRA would know of her desires soon enough, along with the rest of the world.

* * *

"This lack of progress is disturbing," Umar muttered from her throne. She resided in the main hall of the castle, sitting in the same chair her brother once had. The typical stone pillars of a castle were replaced with spirals of Dark Dimension smoke, adding to a decor similar to that of Naruto's room. Kurama was already unsettled just being there, but having Umar seem this upset made it that much worse. "No doubt his friends have already begun plans for a rescue."

"Lady Umar, it hasn't even been a full day yet. Naruto will need time to get tostate you need him in. His allies won't have a solid plan for some time. Patients seems like the best course of action."

Umar tapped her finger on the throne, staring off into space. "Perhaps. Has our guest said anything of interest?"

Lying would've been futile. "He said something about knowing someone with my name in his dimension. Could be a lie. Other than that, he's just asked random questions. Nothing of substance."

"What kinds of questions?"

"Who I thought I was" Kurama answered. Not a lie, though not exactly the truth either.

Umar nodded. "He's upset. A good start, if nothing else. Go back and continue to guard him. If he says anything else, let me know."

"Of course, Lady Umar. But… if I may ask, am I from his dimension?"

"Feeling a kinship with the prisoner, Kurama?"

"I wouldn't call it that. But my name seems uncommon, and I have sensed a power within him similar to mine."

Admitting that last bit was a risk. Umar's lack of a reaction suggested it was one that might actually pay off. "You've got no link to his dimension. Now do as I've told you."

Kurama stood motionless for a split second, then turned to leave. Her hesitation went unnoticed by Umar, who hadn't looked her servant in the eye throughout the entire encounter. 'She lied to me,' Kurama thought. 'I can't prove it, but I know she did. Naruto's linked to me somehow. The way his face looks so familiar, how he reacted to my name, our powers feeling linked, and the questions he's asked me; none of it can be coincidence. It's the first lie I know she's told me, but it's a fucking big one. I need to get more out of Naruto. He knows more than he's letting on! I can feel it!'

* * *

Her suspicions about the young blonde were correct, but whether or not he'd help her was another story. Kurama was in his room once more, staring the mysterious Rider dead in the face. Naruto was asleep, so she made sure to slam the door shut on her way in to wake him.

Naruto shot up, startled and confused. It took him a moment to remember where he was, by which point Kurama was sitting in front of him. Her face gave away that something was up, but an Uzumaki didn't give up what they had easily. "Thought you wanted me asleep."

"I answered some of your questions. It's time you answer mine."

"That's fair, I guess. But it's gonna depend on what the questions are."

Kurama didn't bother to ask for ground rules. "You've made references to the dimension you're from. I get the feeling this isn't the first time you've jumped from world to world."

"Bingo. Don't know the name of it, but I'm from a dimension where the world's ruled by shinobi with control over chakra. I died there and Mephisto gave me a second life here."

"And you believe I'm from that dimension as well?"

"That sounds like a question for Umar."

"I didn't ask her. I'll take you dodging the question as a yes, and I'll also take the fact that I know your face as proof we knew each other before. Tell me how."

Naruto gave a foxy grin. "You aren't gonna believe it."

"Try me."

He just had to pause for effect here. Even in a life or death situation, Naruto was nothing if not a showman. "You were sealed inside my body so that I could one day learn to harness your power as a weapon. Much like me, you were treated pretty shitty, and so were your kin, the Tailed Beasts. There's nine of you in total, and you're the most powerful of the lot. Back home, you were actually the reason people hated me. I won't tell you we got along… but I will tell you I think we could've gotten along if circumstance had been different, or maybe we'd been given a little more time."

Kurama let sink, staring at Naruto for some time. She stood up, marched over to Naruto's bedside, and leaned down. "You're right… I don't believe it."

"Wait-" Naruto cried. He was shut up when Kurama spun around, smacking him with one off her tails on the way out. Whether or not it was intentional, he couldn't say. But he could say one thing, "...well, that could've gone better."

* * *

Johnny had to have the story repeated to him three times before he understood what happened. He still felt like he should've been taken notes the entire thing, but the group had done a decent job clearing things up. It was the same group that'd been working all day, trying to think up anything that might save their friend. They'd gathered around a kitchen table, lamenting the situation to Johnny for hours over God only knew how much coffee. It was tedious, but clarity was key.

"I knew you guys had a knack for gettin' in bad situations, but God almighty…"

"Tell us about it," Ava grumbled.

Kiba leaned forward in her chair. "Is there anything you think we can do?"

"You mean other than never leave the house again? Trouble finds you kids like flies find-"

Slamming her hand on the table, Hinata cut any remaining forms of pleasantries. "Do you have something or not? We can't waste any more fucking time!"

Johnny recoiled a bit at her tone, a move that shocked him more than anyone. "If you're lookin' for a silver bullet, that I can't give ya. There's one thing I can think of that might help, but I'm not sure it'll work with Naruto being where he is."

"We won't lose anything by trying," Akamaru replied. The rest of the group quickly nodded around him.

"Fair enough. Hinata, get over here. I need ya right in front of me, eyes closed, doing exactly what I say."

On any other night, a remark like that would've lead to a thousand jokes at Johnny expense. But tonight, Hinata merely did as she was told without anyone else saying a word. "Now what?"

"Now you need to relax. I want you to think about Naruto, the happiest memory you've got with him. Block out everything but that memory and the sound of my voice."

Hinata took a deep breath and let her mind take over. Her happiest memory with Naruto was easy. It was morning after they'd reunited in this strange new world. She'd woken up with Naruto lying in between her and Kiba, the warm glow of the sun cracking ever so slightly through the window. The two people she loved most were with her in body and soul for the first time in her life. She could still hear the calm of their breathing and the warmth they emanated. There was nothing but uncertainty for Hinata in the rest of the world, but in that hotel room, at that exact moment, she felt so at peace…

* * *

 _…it was as if she was in that bed when she heard Johnny's voice disembodied above her, almost like that of a God. "You there, Hinata?"_

 _"Yeah… I'm here."_

 _"Good. Took some time, but you're in deep now, exactly where we need you."_

 _Had it taken a while? It seemed like only seconds to Hinata, but then a memory like this one felt timeless. "What do I need to do now?"_

 _"Find Naruto in that memory. Latch onto him."_

 _That was an easy one. Hinata reached over, pulling her lover closer to her. Every inch of his skin felt exactly as she'd remembered it. "I've got him, Johnny."_

 _"Perfect. Now transform into your Rider form and give the dream a second to adjust. Once it has, whisper into his ear. Say his name, call out to him, whatever, just as long as you get his attention."_

 _Hinata leaned into Naruto's ear and whispered. "Naruto, it's me. I know it's hard to hear me right now, but… I need you to know, we're going to find you! We did it once, we can do it again! I love you, Naruto, we all love you, and I know you love us. Please, say it!"_

 _Her plea was met with silence, yet still she clung to him. Hope was all Hinata had left, and she'd be damned if she was going to see it ripped away from her._

 _"I… I…" A voice began to perk up. Hinata could her lover whispering back, a small noise that sent shivers down her entire spine. "I love you too…"_

 _"Naruto! Can you hear me? Naruto!?"_

 _His responses was muffled, but audible. "Barley. Is this real? It doesn't feel like a dream, but-"_

 _"I don't have time to explain! We know you've been captured and we're trying to find a way to rescue you. Can you tell us where you? What their defenses are like? Anything?"_

 _Naruto paused to gathered his thoughts. "The inside of this place looks like a castle, but that's not much to go off from. I don't know if it's good or bad, but do have something else, something big."_

 _The whole thing was starting to crumble. Hinata felt like one does at the end of the dream, just at the point where you realize you're asleep and know you're time's limited. "Just say it!"_

 _"Kurama's here," Naruto replied. The revelations was met with silent confusion from his fellow Rider. "I don't know how yet, but I'm figuring that out, and we might be able to help each other. I've only got a few days left before…"_

 _His voice was disappearing into the a dark void. Hinata's sunlight was gone, the hotel room was gone, and soon her lover would be too. She reached out to him. "Before what? Naruto? Naruto!?"_

 _The bed beneath her body gave way and Hinata went tumbling into the darkness…_

* * *

...she shot up her in chair seconds later, panting and covered in sweat. Johnny was in front of her, and all of Hinata's friends were behind him. They waited with hitched breath. "Well… what happened?"

"A lot," Hinata replied. "We need to get ahold of Dr. Strange, now! There's more waiting for him in the Dark Dimension than he could ever imagine."

Johnny nodded and stood up. "I'll get on the phone. Somebody get something high sugar and high carb for her to chow down on. The process takes a lot outta ya."

Kiba was already heading for the fridge, "I've got some cinnamon buns we can warm up quick."

"Perfect. Keep an eye on her and come get me if she passes out."

"Hold up," Akamaru demanded. "What'd she just do? And how the fuck did she do it?"

If Johnny's eyes had rolled any harder, they would've popped out of his head. "Not something I have time to explain tonight, kid. Take care of your friend and fill in the blanks later."

He left the room to make sure no one had any time to ask another question. Time was of the essence here, even more than they'd first expected. Until this thing was over, they'd keep moving. Looks like the next order of business was going to be a coffee run…

* * *

"Gah! Hu… hu… hu... holy shit!"

Naruto shot up in his bed, as much as his restraints would let him anyways, sweaty and exhausted. It was drastic enough to force Kurama, who'd been trying to ignore the Rider, to take notice. She stood up and rushed over to him. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, just a um… a dream."

"Must've been a hell of a dream." Kurama muttered. She raised up one of her hand and placed it on Naruto's forehead. He didn't seem to be running a fever, but something was wrong. No one sweat that much when they slept. "Stay still. I need to check your vitals."

She covered her hand in a thin layer of what Naruto now knew to be chakra and closed her eyes. Kurama furrowed her brow, but said nothing. Minutes passed before she opened her eyes once more, prompting Naruto to ask, "Is everything alright?"

"Yes and no…" Kurama seemed distant. "You burned through a lot of energy with that dream. We'll need to grab some of the food we stored. Umar's going to be furious if we run out this soon…"

Naruto winced a little, having decided at this point that the dream was in fact real, at least in the sense. He'd worry about the details once he was safe. "Are you going to tell her about this? Umar I mean."

"Good question…" Kurama almost sounded as if she was talking to herself. "I'm going to get you something to eat. Don't pass out on me."

Kurama turned and walked out of the room without another word. Something about his vitals had shifted her demeanor, but Naruto couldn't say what. What made that all the more frustrating is that it meant he had no idea if it was going to work in his favor or against it.

"Even outside my gut, that fox still finds a way to make things complicated…"


End file.
